Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Some good questions.

Inequalities and privileges.
The world is not fair.
Should we accept that fact?
Or work to change the world?
There is quite the divide in answers to those questions.
Suggesting that we push toward a paradigm shift is too radical.

We'd rather give food, then ask why people are hungry.
We'd rather send money, then ask why people are poor.
We'd rather spend a week with the orphans, then work to prevent the death of their parents.
We'd rather protect our own interests, then make the world equal.

When you connect to the heart of people, you cannot help but ask: "Why they are hungry when there is an excess of food wasted in the world?"
When you see the way others live, you cannot help but ask: "Why we need so many fancy things when others have nothing?"
When you learn the stories of massacres, poor health systems, and other problems, you cannot help but ask: "Why this keeps on happening?"
When you see all the work that needs doing, you cannot help but ask: "Why our interests are more important than others?"

These ideas are too radical, too liberal, too idealistic, too whatever else you want to call them...
BUT.
If you were the one who were starving because your farmland was flooded by a dam created to build a tourist resort, would you feel the same way?
If you were the one impoverished from birth because of a social system that is conducive to the cycle of poverty with no opportunities to improve your situation, would you feel the same way?
If you were an orphan because your parents were brutally murdered and violated in a massacre supported by the government, would you feel the same way?
If you were born in a country of people perpetually exploited to benefit others in developed countries, would you feel the same way?

Maybe yes, maybe no. That's up to you to decide.

I was one of the lucky ones who happened to be born in a society where my physical appearance and country of origin offer me privileges galore. The problems in the world are not my fault by any means nor can I change any more of the world than myself. But if you, dear readers, ask yourselves these questions and think critically about our planet.... by the time I'm ninety maybe some progress will be made toward making this world a little less unfair and a little more happy.

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