We were watching the news on satellite TV and for once it was not the news that made us feel ill, it was a couple of adverts.
First one was for Fat, Fabulous and Filthy Rich, the title pretty much says it all.
The second was for a charity with images of starving children drinking unclean water.
I just sat there for a few seconds, then looked at ML who also appeared to be stunned.
I felt physically ill, was this a deliberate use of advert sequencing or a complete coincidence? In TV programming I don't believe in coincidences.
It is if we live on completely separate planets one where having and iPhone 6 gives a certain social validation and the other where unpolluted water is a luxury. We are somehow meant to compartmentalize the differences, in fact we are encouraged to do so.
Now both ML and I have worked for charities and when you are in the mix the horror is lessened, because when you are working you are too busy to reflect upon the injustice.
Obesity is a serious problem in the "developed" world where processed fat and sugar are the cheapest form of sustenance, where high quality food has become a luxury.
So what we end up having is a comparison of what it means to be poor no matter where you are.
In our world we have a whole industry designed to sell quick and easy calories at low prices and other [and much more expensive] industries designed to try and undo the damage caused. When education is proposed, it is mocked by the people profiting from this situation.
Sometimes you believe that you are crazy and this cannot possibly be the reality.
Then you realize
It is.
Then you know why you feel sick.