two dollars and fifty cents changes it all
$2.50 my brother… $2.50 my sister… $2.50 my friend.
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Two numbers: $2.50 and 3 billion
- Roughly ½ of our population, that’s over 3 billion people, lives on less than $2.50 a day.
Could you? I couldn’t.
$2.50 and over 3 billion.
And I find myself bitching that I don’t have enough to buy a new pair of $50US kicks. Aren’t I pathetic sometimes?
Want two more tasty facts?
- At least 80 percent of the world population lives on less than $10 a day.
- According to UNICEF, “26,500-30,000 children die each day due to poverty (that’s children age five and under). They ‘die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.’”
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This isn’t an entry about changing the world. This is an entry about $2.50, an entry about changing myself, first.
Due to situations present before my birth, I was born into a great situation. I was allowed a pursuit of happiness but I didn’t deserve it anymore than any of those 26,500 or so children. Two-and-a-half dollars has fueled my sense of responsibility, a drive and the realization that life is nowhere as easy for others as it is for me. If I don’t do something to help the cause I am a waste of all that money and situation.
Two dollars and fifty cents makes me realize that the happy notion of an all knowing God that put us here on earth to test us is not so simple. I think it’s a simplified story that we, the ones not living in poverty, use to ease our minds, hoping there is a fair Almighty up there that cares about us and will make everything all ok in the afterlife. My naivety asks, if life is a test to separate the good from the bad, how is it ever going to test a child that is born into hunger and doesn’t have the luxury of going to school or feeling the solution to hunger?
If there is a God, I doubt it’s an old white dude overseeing us all, even though I’ve spent most of my life believing in one. No, if there is God, it’s not the one I used to believe in, it’s not one that is all-powerful, yet jealous that picks tiny minorities to inherit the world and heaven. The fact is that I’m in HEAVEN right now… and those kids… they’re in HELL right now.
I’ve personally used the idea of a God (Yahweh, whatever you or your religion wants call it) to be lazy in my thoughts, thinking I’m in some sort of a plan to go to heaven, forgetting that heaven is right now; kidding myself that those kids living in hellish poverty will go straight to heaven after they die. That way I’ve protected my fragile conscience.
Breaking from the simplified story version idea of a God makes me more hopeful that we as a human race can change this direction and eventually minimize things such as poverty. It makes me more powerful, no longer is it a spiritual test, it’s about recognizing that God, maybe call it infinite human potential, is in you, me and that kid who’s trying to survive on less than $2.50. That puts some real responsibility on us, doesn’t it? For all our brothers and sisters. If we’re healthy, able to work, not hungry… we are the lucky ones.
What is the new hope for humanity for me? I believe in free thought and technology. We can learn to think, to work and treat others around us better and create better answers to hunger problems. What do I currently think will solve some of the real problems in this world? Not intolerant religions, not world government, nor additional wars; what will save us includes charity, world population control and technology.
Does this new paradigm make me happier? No, it clears my fantasyland, I feel closer to life and it makes me more action oriented. I realize that there is no comfortable thought like universal justice; it’s a dream that I must work towards to improve, in my little way.
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3 things for me to understand:
Tolerance / charity to all: We all have a right to believe what we want. But we have no right to act on that belief if it hurts others. For future religions to be utilitarian, they need to accept that there are many ways to God (self understanding and knowledge), not just one dogmatic way. Close mindedness only benefits members of a club, not the human population. Lets learn charity and accept each other.
World population control: Almost all our climate change concerns, economic hardships and poverty have to do with too many mouths to feed. Many in America think cleaner cars are the answer to our pollution problems, yet cars only make up a small portion of our problems. More mouths to feed means clearing of forests to grow more food, more paved ground and more energy and utilities used. There are only so many people earth can support. It’s also no secret that the uneducated and poor have more children per capita.
Example: Han Chinese, the largest ethnic group in the world, comprises of 92% of China’s population. Han understand population control and were able to lower poverty from 85% to 16% in the last couple of decades. Dislike China or not, Han Chinese figured out that only having one child equals to fewer hungry mouths, allowing everyone to do better.
Technology: In our lives the major advancements in society aren’t because of better religion or government. Its not prayers on their own that are improving health or curing diseases, its the human spirit acting to help others through technology. It’s science that allows us to fix problems in our bodies and allows us to live longer and with less pain. It’s technology that can allow the same plot of land to give us 400% more production than 20 years ago. It’s technology that can free us.
XX EDIT: Talking with my friend Maggie about this she suggested adding EDUCATION to the list. Absolutely, teach people how to help themselves, and gain knowledge to use technology to save lives.XX
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I can dream and spread hope because I’ve been blessed with the luxury of situation. The time to think, responsibility to act, and realization that most of my petty problems pale when put next to $2.50.
