The quotations are transcribed conversation; the rest is fact, positioned by Question.
My opinion is not stated, it does not have to be; this is a part of America.
How many Children die every year due to school shootings, on average since 1990? 38 (CJCJ)
How many Children die every year due to hunger? 1,460,000 [4000 a day] (Unicef)
“I don’t want preservatives in my food, they cause cancer sometimes.” –Wallingford resident
“I have honestly, I think, like, heard enough about the starving people, the pictures are always so disgusting and they make feel terrible, but it’s not like I can do anything” – student at QU
“In some part those countries are responsible for their own problems. They elected those leaders; somebody let those terrible people run their country. It’s their job to get rid of them.” – Sales representative, DHL Global Forwarding
“Why should I help them, what have they done for me?” – Student at Lyman Hall High School
“Why should it be so important for Americans to help out those countries, we have our own problems.” – Teacher at Lyman Hall High School
What is the Percentage of American Income which goes to Foreign Aid? .19% [Lowest of all First World Nations] (OECD)
How many people died in Hurricane Katrina? 1,577 (LDHH)
How many people died in the December 2004 Tsunami? 230,000 (ICG)
“Katrina was far worse that the Tsunami, it was so much more of a tragedy”-Student(s) at Lyman Hall High School
For what it's worth, I haven't given up hope on the world quite yet.
But I realize the desperate need and just plain ignorance in some of the facts and quotes that you posted. Sometimes I'm just shocked by what some young people today choose to say and do. The other day I was at school and a bunch of kids were laughing--laughing--about what happened about V Tech. Are we desensitized? Does our culture devalue life?
Also, some of those quotes that you posted are just terrible! But I do feel that Americans are flooded day today with statistics on world poverty, hunger, etcetera, and they start to lose their impact after a while. People feel powerless. I mean think about it: We our living in a "democracy" under a president that currently has like a 75% disapproval rate, and we don't feel like we have any sway on Congress. What can we do? Donate what we can spare from our paychecks, petition our congressmen, volunteer? Yes, and some of us do do that. But it's not enough to tackle the big issues.
We feel powerless. And here's a novel idea: Isn't our efficacy in our world--our ability to change our world when it becomes so impoverished and unjust--a basic human right? Isn't our loss of our ability to heal and positively impact the world a huge trespass on our rights?
I mean, people can and do help out in the world. But Africa is still a world away, it can seem. But here's my opinion: If those 4000 children who die of hunger every day were wandering along the streets of our American cities in droves, people would raid their cabinets to feed them. I know I would. Maybe I am naive? But for what it's worth, I won't sit here and feel like I have no say in whether those 4000 children die, or the state that our world is in today.
Human benevolence is the greatest resource ever; and it has yet to be tapped. In fact, it has been largely ignored, demeaned, and made to seem powerless. But does it still exist? YES.
We need to put the lives, the faces, the reality back into the statistics, and put foreign aid and peacekeeping back into the hands of people in well-developed countries everywhere. A new ammendment to the Bill of Rights?: "We the people hereby reserve the right to take back our social, political, and global efficacy in the world when we feel that that power has been demeaned and infringed..."
Cool post! (And sorry for the long comment...a subject very close to home for me).
:)
Allison
"Be the change you want to see in the world" ~Mahatma Gandhi
Great post!!
That is the exact reason I have become apathetic to this world. The problems aren't to big to solve, there not. The problem is most people in the U.S. are either uninformed,painfully ignorant,selfish or like myself so bummed out about the other people's stupidity that nothing will be fixed.
Maybe someone will take the lead who is not only smart enough, but will have the heart(without religion)and the will{without delusions of grandure)to not only start the changes needed but also to get people like me up and off the couch to help!!