So I was watching the National last night, and on it they had a story about how the global food crisis which was such a hot topic in the spring is now never heard of. It, of course, has been replaced with the global economic crisis. You can watch the story here.
A quick summary… the global food crisis is accelerating, governments who pledged 22 billion dollars to the cause, but since then nothing has been contributed. It appears that “saving the economy” with hundreds of billions is more important.
After the story I went to sleep in my comfortable bed in my warm house, with a full belly like almost every other person in North America. Yes, there are people who are losing their jobs, yes times will be tough for families in the next couple years. BUT we have it sooo much better than billions of people in the world. Even if we do lose our jobs, the government and other agencies have programs and services in place to help us, even if its just a little. Which means even at our poorest we are still much better off than the rest of the planet.
We are a society that is so inward focused it’s killing the rest of the world. And now, finally, we have seen that our greed has even impacted ourselves. The quest for filling our own pockets and homes with stuff has caused a global economic crisis. So what? There are bigger problems in our world than having enough stuff under our Christmas trees.
Here’s what should happen. If you have your hand pointing palms up at the government looking for a bailout. Go to Africa for a couple months. Or South or Latin America. Hey! The weather is nice in Haiti these days! Go live in a place of the world where there is extreme poverty, drought and hunger. Go to a place where 22 billion in aid might help provide a meal a day.
When you come back, let me know if you still have the guts to hold out your hand.