Wow. Just wow.
In northern Iraq ISIS is slaughtering people, kidnapping and raping women, and generally killing anyone they choose to as they capitalize on a shattered society that we, the west, generously shattered for them.
In Gaza, Israelis are doing their best to run their version of a Holocaust on the Palestinians. Doing unto others as others have done unto them. In Gods name.
In west Africa, people are dying like flies of Ebola, while in north Africa girls are being pinned to the ground while someone mutilates their genitals with a shard of broken glass.
On BLF we whine and complain about a scratch on the bezel of a $40 flashlight that we didn’t need in the first place.
I’m suddenly ashamed of us and our First World problems. If our flashlights are so offensive to us, perhaps we should send them to someone on a mountain top in Iraq who doesn’t even have a candle, or give the next $40 headlamp to a Red Cross or Medecins sans Frontiers physician so they can see to stop up a bullet hole in some innocent child at midnight.
Frankly, having the wrong textured reflector or a slightly mismatched anodizing job is pretty damned insignificant if we take the time to look a bit beyond. The fact that we can waste our breath bitching about those things simply proves us as being unbelievably fortunate. And ignorant of it.
I apologise for the bring-down. Maybe I should stop watching the news. Ignorance is bliss, they say. And besides, my S20 works fine, scratches and all.
Alright. Now that I’ve re-read my rant and I’m still agitated, here’s what I propose. BLF is a good place, filled for the most part with uncommonly decent people.
I suggest we dig through our redundant stuff, specifically stuff that runs on AA or D batteries, and ship them off to people who actually need them. International aid organizations. Red Cross. MSF. Anyone that may hold your respect.
Headlamps in particular; I have three or four myself that will otherwise end up on a garage sale some day. Maybe some board member might have connections with such an organization that we could utilize. Maybe we could get some of the manufacturers on board, with obsolete or blemished units that no longer sell.
It’s better than just sitting here whining about our piddly assed QC beefs. I’m really becoming tired of that. I’d rather do something constructive.