KP Getting Worked Up: Exhibit A

Chuck is the calm, cool, collected one.
He has the incredible ability to just let things go and not internalize them.
I admire this about him because I am not like this.
In fact, I'm quite the opposite.
I get worked up about a myriad of things. And I can't let them go until I've worried about them sufficiently.

• First there was Alaskan aerial wolf hunting (The injustice!)
• Then the Iraq War (Netflix is responsible for that one).
• I spent my high school days convinced that human nature was centered around greed ( I was quite the little misanthrope).
• I constantly complain about Chuck's lack of recycling (It's in my blood! My mom was part of the group that created the Oregon recycling program).
• A few months ago I watched "The Cove" on netflix and could only talk about dolphins for about a week.

I'm also one of those people that has a hard time keeping their mouth shut. Some people can nod and smile at deranged comments, holding in their actual feelings. I am not like this. My face gives away everything I'm feeling, and more likely than not, this look will be followed by a verbal declaration of how I feel. This is probably not a good characteristic.

My most recent obsession is Africa.

Apparently I'm capable of getting worked up about the plight of an entire continent. I'm taking Politics of Africa, a 400 graduate level class. This probably wasn't the smartest class choice for a sophomore, but oh well. I just finished taking my first test. It wasn't so much a test as it was regurgitating everything we've learned in the class so far into three essays. Now, I'm regurgitating it again to you!

The corruption by African "Big Man" leaders and tyrants is astounding to me. Since African states gained independence from colonial rule, African leaders are responsible for stealing at least $140 Billion in aid. Billion with a B. That is beyond comprehension. African people are living in squalor, dying from famine and preventable and treatable diseases. Yet their leaders buy fleets of Mercedes Benzes, jets that no one can afford to fly on, and dozens of private estates in the South of France.
Imagine that the leader of your country spent $22 million dollars on his own coronation as "emperor," fed innocent civilians to the lions and crocodiles he kept in his private zoo, and had cannibalistic tendencies. Well if you were from the Central African Republic, that would be a reality! Enter Bokassa, the craziest of them all:

The next time I hear someone complain about the "Ineffectual American Democracy" I'm going to try my hardest to channel Chuck, shrug my shoulders, and just walk away. After all, legislative gridlock is better than being fed to a crocodile.