not to proselytize, but...
Today I leisurely woke up and as I was browsing the internets I came across this story, which I think more people ought to read. I took this biology class one year, and we talked a lot about hunger in Africa, and I was touched and all, but it doesn't often hit home like the above article did. Damn those Times writers for using individual names and taking pictures! But anyway, I was thinking how much money I spend on food for myself each month, or even daily, and I could probably buy like 20 bags of corn or something with it and feed a bunch of people, so then I decided to donate some $$, coz if a bowl of porridge costs 12 cents, even $5 is a pretty generous donation. And seeing as our sorry-ass excuse for a government doesn't want to use its money in any kind of logical way, hopefully my money will get a bit closer to buying food for the people who need it.
Perhaps this approach isn't for everyone, and you may even have qualms about giving money to such a cause for various reasons that are almost too heartless to type, but i will anyway because i thought about them:
-What if this money isn't used for what we're told it will be used for? What if it goes to finance guerilla fighters who are oppressing their own people? I don't want to finance the buying of weapons so that little kids will be taught to shoot other little kids! That's awfulllll.
-What if buying food for poor countries only further propagates an unsustainable population explosion by feeding starving and/or hiv-positive parents who are then healthy enough to produce children? Even if those children survive for a little while, won't they only die of hunger or aids, and isn't it a waste of food to be feeding them?
-What if the food I buy comes from a nation/government whose tenets I don't agree with (haha, like my own country), and my money is actually used to help support that country's economy more than to feed starving babies?
-etc.
But in the end, I got past all that stuff I was thinking about. I'm sorry, but if you show me pictures of starving children and tell me that both their parents died of aids,
I will probably feel bad and have to donate some money.
Perhaps this approach isn't for everyone, and you may even have qualms about giving money to such a cause for various reasons that are almost too heartless to type, but i will anyway because i thought about them:
-What if this money isn't used for what we're told it will be used for? What if it goes to finance guerilla fighters who are oppressing their own people? I don't want to finance the buying of weapons so that little kids will be taught to shoot other little kids! That's awfulllll.
-What if buying food for poor countries only further propagates an unsustainable population explosion by feeding starving and/or hiv-positive parents who are then healthy enough to produce children? Even if those children survive for a little while, won't they only die of hunger or aids, and isn't it a waste of food to be feeding them?
-What if the food I buy comes from a nation/government whose tenets I don't agree with (haha, like my own country), and my money is actually used to help support that country's economy more than to feed starving babies?
-etc.
But in the end, I got past all that stuff I was thinking about. I'm sorry, but if you show me pictures of starving children and tell me that both their parents died of aids,
I will probably feel bad and have to donate some money.