Chances are each time you lay down seven dollars to see a film, you already have in mind what your money is buying. You saw a preview for the movie when you took in Batman two weeks before, a quick thirty second appeal to your senses and emotions, leaving you yearning for the satisfaction of actually finding out if mankind will survive the doomsday device stored aboard the out-of-control airplane. Perhaps you saw a preview on T.V. Or maybe you read what the reviewer wrote in the paper and walk into the theater, clutching your Junior Mints, expecting to be wowed by the special effects but disappointed by the shallowness of the romance between the male and female leads. In short, you already know a good amount about the film even before you take your seat.Harlan Jacobson '71 thinks this is the wrong way to see a film.
A visit to a Kabul hospital last year opened Sarah Warren's eyes to one of the pernicious side effects of the years of conflict in Afghanistan. She met four boys in the dismal ward, all of whom had been injured by land mines or other discarded and forgotten explosives. "There was a boy who was really sweet, and very happy to see our staff," she recalls, "and we gave him a piece of paper and a pen because he had nothing to do. This little boy was anemic, and his family was incredibly poor. He was injured by a UXO (unexploded ordnance) that he was hitting with a rock, which exploded, killing one of his sisters and injuring another. He lost his leg. The doctors told his family that he needed fruit, but they couldn't afford to buy him any, so he was getting by on rice and water."