A Dollar A Day

By Ina Solms

How much money do you spend in a week? Do you spend fifty, or is it closer to one hundred dollars? We are college students; we have to be economical and try to conserve our cash. What could you buy with seven dollars? You could get a meal at a fast-food restaurant and a pack of gum. Could you live on a dollar a day? This is the reality facing a terrifying number of people in our world. I am not talking about a thousand people or even one hundred thousand. According to The World Bank, 1.25 billion people live on less than $1.00 per day. Furthermore, 2.8 billion live on less than $2.00 per day. By the way, our world’s population consists of merely 6 billion people. Are you shocked, horrified? You should be. One dollar per day, can you even fathom what that would be like? It is unimaginable for us because we live in a wealthy country. In the United States, you are considered poor if you cannot afford to go out and get the hottest clothes of the season. What if you cannot afford to eat? What if you cannot afford a glass of water? This is a real problem. You remember when your mother told you to eat your broccoli because some starving child in Africa would kill someone to be able to eat it. Well, there is truth to your mom’s guilt trip. I hope you recognize this as a colossal problem for humanity. What is being done to stop this? Consistent with netaid.com, the United Nations introduced a set of Millennium Development Goals in 2000. One of their main objectives was to begin eliminating extreme poverty. The original plan called for each able nation to dedicate .7% of it’s GDP by 2015 to help eradicate this poverty. There was a United Nations summit last fall, and their original plan was modified for the worse. Pop quiz: Which is one country that is near and dear to our heart that refused to contribute .7% of it’s GDP to this cause? DING DING DING! If you guessed the U.S. you would be right, the only other country who refused was Japan. The U.S. agreed to try to throw in .35% of their GDP; and we have an “opt out” clause in case we change our minds. Strange, I thought that we were one of the wealthiest nations on earth. I thought that we were all about human rights and putting an end to suffering. That is why we went into Iraq, right? We wanted to stop Saddam Hussein from oppressing his people; we just could not stand by while the Iraqis were suffering. So why are we not striving to fix this colossal problem? Is going hungry, and dying from lack of water not misery? Oh wait, most of us would have no clue what going hungry for even a day would feel like. That is beside the point that I am trying to make right now. Perhaps the United States does not feel that they would benefit by helping these impoverished masses. In fact, you might be thinking right now, who cares about those people. It is not your problem, right? In reality, there are some reasons we should care about these extremely impoverished people. Primarily, how can you read my article and not feel guilt? Don’t you feel compelled to help these exceedingly unfortunate masses? Picture this: a young African girl running around naked, bawling. Her bones stick out everywhere except her bloated belly. She is howling from the hunger pains and her eyes are wild with despair. You can help her, don’t say that you cannot. While we all drive around in our expensive cars, and gobble up as much food as we can fit in our stomachs, we should know that we have the power to change her life. Our humanity alone should be more than enough motivation to get off of our sedentary “behinds” and put an end to this horrible phenomenon. Still not convinced? Try to put yourself in the mindset of one of these people. You are starving, you have no home, no clothes, your babies are crying because they need food, and you definitely cannot afford healthcare. What do you have to live for? There is no brighter tomorrow, you do not know what the “American dream” is, and of course you will never achieve that dream. What is stopping you from attacking countries that have everything you do not, besides the lack of resources. These people are prime candidates for terrorism. I am not saying that every impoverished human wants to kill Americans, or even that they want to hurt a fly. I am merely pointing out that they have been left behind. If I were them, I would be pretty angry. Have you learned about revolutions in school? Mainly, they happen because the lower classes are sick and tired of letting the rich get fatter and happier. My guess is that these people want basic human necessities and might do just about anything to obtain them. What am I suggesting that you do? Well, for starters you can contact your representatives and let them know how disappointed you are that they could not work out a better plan to eradicate poverty at the United Nations summit. If you feel that you need to take matters into your own hands, there are loads of organizations designed to eliminate extreme poverty. In fact, this past weekend met Dr. DC; he is the head of a local organization that is called Hampton Roads Citizens for Peace. Dr. DC believes that this country is going in the wrong direction; he asserts that we need to help people that are in despair. He would be absolutely thrilled if you would like to be a part of his group. How would you like to make an incredibly positive difference in our world? On the other hand, can you sleep at night knowing that you are too lazy or too self-absorbed to do anything about millions of famished children?