So I think it's necessary to bring to light just what a huge problem poverty is in the world. I feel like it's really hard for lots of people in first world countries to even realize just how bad poverty is in third world countries and even in some places in their own countries. So many people are severely lacking on the things they need to survive, while other people are driving around in their Lamborghinis, not paying any attention to anyone else's situation, and certainly not helping anyone else. I feel like so many people take advantage of what they have and complain about being so poor and going without so much, but then you see that they just bought a new ipad, or their parents got them a giant flat-screen tv for their birthday. And to those people, I'm wondering how the hell they can complain, especially when they would be so grateful for what they have if they just visited a third world country or the slums of their own country and saw how other people live. Furthermore, I think they'd be more willing to help these people, and maybe they'd spend less money on stupid crap and more money on feeding people who go without food on a daily basis. I feel like, now that I've lived in two third world countries, I could never spend ungodly amounts of money on things as silly as sports cars, mansions, and electronics, even if I was as rich as Bill Gates. I feel like, every time I'd look at my bat-mobile car, I'd think about my friends in Ecuador who only own 2 t-shirts and have to wear them 5 days in a row before being able to wash them. I'd think about my family in Ecuador who doesn't have running water, so they have to flush their toilets by dumping bowls of water into the toilet til the water goes down the drain, and they have to keep a barrel of ice cold water in the shower and use a bowl to pour water from the barrel onto their heads in order to wash themselves. So I feel like everyone needs to be grateful for what they have, become aware of just how bad the poverty situation is in the world, and keep from buying ungodly expensive things that are just toys, while other people go hungry. These things are just things. People are more important. So the next time you want to buy a 90,000$ car, maybe buy a car that's less expensive, and if you just feel like spending money, send the money you saved to Ecuador or another country that is in poverty. Heck, you can even send money to organizations in your own country who help the poor of your country. Poverty is everywhere, afterall.
Now here are some interesting poverty facts that might sway you a little bit:
1. In 1998, more people were living on less than a dollar a day than in 1996.
2. In 1999, the assets of the world's 200 richest people were greater than the combined incomes of the lowest 40% of the world's peoples.
3. The world's rich-poor gap has more than doubled since the 1960s. The rich world at the end of the 1990s earned about 60 times what the poor world did; in 1998, the top 20% earned 74 times as much as the bottom 20%.
4. In 1999, 1.3 billion people were breathing air that did not meet minimum World Health Organization standards.
5. In 1997, there were over 100 million street children in the world's cities.
6. In 1997, 1.5 billion people without access to medical care.
7. In 1999, almost 1.5 billion people lived in urban slums.
Now, these facts came from an article called "The Great Paradox of Development Assistance," and I realize these facts are not too current, but that's what I found and what was explained in this article. And if anything, world poverty has probably gotten worse, what with the major fall of the world's economies in the 2000s. So now that you guys have read that, maybe you're appalled. I sure hope so, because it's certainly appalling news. Maybe you're more aware after reading this, and maybe you feel more grateful for what you have. And maybe some of you feel ashamed for feeling sorry for yourself when you really do have so much compared to so many people around the world. But here's what I think we all need to do about this. If you have never been to a third world country, go. Check it out, and don't just look at what's happening over there. LIVE LIKE THEM. Go live there for a month or so, and live like they do. Then maybe you'll feel like you've been in their shoes and will understand a tiny bit better just how they live their lives every day. And maybe you'll be more grateful for your blessings and want to help them more. Also, you can go to the slums in your own city and live like the people there do. That's an easier way to start looking through other people's eyes if you don't want to go to a foreign country. Although, I highly suggest going to a foreign third world country, because that was the best experience I've ever had in my life, and it opened my eyes incredibly. I wouldn't take it back for the world. It opened my eyes and made me more grateful for what I have and more willing to help people in poverty, but it was also the most enjoyable experience of my life. I'd love to go back to Ecuador and live there someday. I truly realized that you don't have to own a bunch of crap to have an amazing life, and you don't have to live in a rich country to love the country. You don't have to have tons of money to enjoy yourself, and any country can be beautiful and amazing in its own way, no matter how poor the country is.
The last thing I want everyone to do is going to be the biggest challenge, and that's to lower the unemployment rate and create more jobs. That's a good thing for any country to do, but speaking for the United States, the best way to get rid of all the poverty in our own country is to figure out a way to create more jobs for people. It's a way to get rid of the homeless problem, it's a way to spread the wealth, and it's a way to get so many people out of poverty. This is always what I resort to when I talk about things like this. You should read my note, "Dodger Logic #48: Will Panhandle For Drugs" about homelessness and what we need to do about it. The answer to all of these problems seems to be to figure out a way to create more jobs, rather than invest tons of money to give away to the poor for free. Redistribution only goes so far, and it not only helps people who work hard, but it helps people who sit on their butts all day, which is not ideal. So the best way to fix the problem in a fair way is to create more jobs.
And, in case you think I'm getting onto Americans for being spoiled brats, I want to leave you with something a historian/sociologist wrote in an article I once read. (I wish I remembered the name of the article and the author's name.) He/she said something about how it's no good to have a rich country if all the people are poor. And I wanted to add this in here, because it's true that rich countries can house extremely poor people. Sometimes a rich country even pretty much ONLY has poor people living in it. Some countries are considered to be rich countries, but only the highest of the high officials in the country are extremely rich, and the rest of the population is in extreme poverty. So don't think I'm picking on America. There are tons of poor people here, and I do feel like this is more like a rich country with poor people living here. However, that doesn't give anyone a free pass to be ungrateful for what they have!
You should check out this really quick video that will blow your mind on just how unevenly distributed the money is here in America. It's crazy how little we know about the reality of poverty... until now that you've watched this video: http://utrend.tv/v/9-out-of-10-americans-are-completely-wrong-about-this-mind-blowing-fact/.
Look at us. We live in one of the richest countries in the world, yet we complain. That's not to say that our country being rich means that we must be rich. Trust me, living in a rich country makes it that much harder to make it out there, and if you don't make it, it's that much rougher on you. We have an insane number of people in our country living below the poverty line.
If it's this bad here, think of how horrible it must be in poor countries.
The reality people in rich countries don't see.
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