Why do some people have so much while others have so little? How can one person work so hard and still suffer while another person does very little work but can still have an easy life? Parts of the world are moving on and developing more and more complex things while other parts are left behind without even the ability survive past past childhood.The world is unfair and bad things happen to good people but why do we accept this unfairness? Instead of focusing so hard on moving ourselves forward maybe we need to look back at the parts of the world that are left behind and help them catch up.
Why is it normal for us to waste so much while we know there are people around the world struggling to survive off of so little?
Why is it such a priority to develop the Iphone 5 but not as much of a priority to develop solutions to world hunger?
Why is Congress spending ridiculous amounts of time and getting paid well doing everything in their power to oppose the opposite party instead of working together to help people in their county who have nothing?
Why am I allowed to go to school and live in a house and get a wonderful education while a person in a different country will never get those opportunities?
Why do we allow all of this to happen?
This was a pretty extensive big question and it contained many parts but essentially the question is: Why has it become the societal norm for the American culture to be so indulgent while others parts of the worlds don't have basic survival needs?
I asked a few people my big question and here are their responses:
I even sought some input from little kids. We grow up being told all about the importance of sharing yet we grow up to be adults in a country ridden with insatiable greed.
The country is fairly divided on this issue. If you ask people about giving international aid many people become defensive. We put up a defensive front because we know that what is happening is unfair and we don't like to acknowledge it. I found an interesting conversation on debate.org. You should definitely check it out because it shows the different opinions people have about this topic.
Children around the world have inadequate or no education at all. We want an educated global population but how did we let the world get so far behind? I think part of the problem is that we aren't thinking globally. We are thinking on a national level when really, we are all people and we are all citizens of the same Earth. I have done nothing in my life that makes me entitled to any better of a life than this little boy pictured above. It shouldn't be simple luck. Where I was born shouldn't determine my chances of life and success but unfortunately it does. Many people say that poor countries should help themselves; that is isn't our responsible, but it is. We are a world, not merely a nation and everything that goes on is our responsibility.
“We live in a completely interdependent world, which simply means we can not escape each other. How we respond to AIDS depends, in part, on whether we understand this interdependence. It is not someone else’s problem. This is everybody’s problem.”
- Bill Clinton
This unfairness shouldn't be the norm and the only way it will change is with a major change of mindset within first world countries.
“Foreign Assistance is not an end in itself. The purpose of aid must be to create the conditions where it is no longer needed.”
- President Barack Obama
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