Jenny Bathurst: “If I can’t see it, it’s not happening”

“As a child, I used to subscribe to the same theory that I think many young people do at that age: If I can’t see it, it’s not happening. However, I think that even as a 21-year-old I still am sometimes guilty of this, even if it is regarding the most trivial things. The fact that Taylor Swift exists 24 hours a day even when we can’t see her or that His Majesty The King has to partake in the same mundane activities that we do such as brushing his teeth or trying to fall asleep at night baffles me - even as an adult I still struggle to get my head round the fact that these majorly well known individuals have lives behind the camera.

“When you’re particularly young you are naturally self-centred, entirely oblivious of the fact that there are others in the world and even on our doorstep whose needs are much greater than ours. Most of us grow out of this. But I think most of us are guilty of reverting to the childhood idea of ‘what I can’t see isn’t really happening’ entirely subconsciously. I say this with so many world events, countries and conflicts in mind, but in particular the Russia-Ukraine war. I speak as a trainee (very nearly qualified!) journalist, but I believe that we can all acknowledge, no matter our profession, the fact that the media will eventually get ‘bored’ of a story. Not because journalists are fed up at work or fancy a change, but because they know that audiences only have a certain attention span. No matter what the topic, they know that we will eventually tire of the same subject matter if it’s repeated again and again, however this brings me back to the old ‘if we can’t see it, it’s not happening.’

“Because I admit that I forget. My brain is filled with new information everyday, and if I don’t come across a headline or video regarding the torture that Ukraine is facing then to be completely honest, it’s not at the forefront of my mind. Yesterday as I was scrolling through social media I discovered a video of President Zelenskyy finding out that Germany would be sending battle tanks to Ukraine. Without the intention of sounding rude, I was shocked and saddened to see the country’s president looking so exhausted and depleted. This is not to say that he has lost any of his strength or motivation, but it struck me in that moment that this battle is not over, even if in my mind it stopped when the media stopped reporting on it as heavily. The people of Ukraine aren’t allowed a moment’s break to stop thinking of the horrors that are occurring in the country because they don’t have the option to not see and therefore not remember what’s happening. My wish is to remember and pray for Ukraine everyday, because closing my eyes to these atrocities won’t put an end to them