They say a picture is a worth a thousand words. In my opinion, this one is worth a whole lot more. I have long been disgusted by the blatant disregard for others in the ever present race for power and wealth held by our species. History repeats itself time and time again. As long as wealth has existed, so too has a division among people in regards to it. From the serfs and peasants of the middle ages, to the present day working man, the homeless, and the deeply impoverished of our third world nations. Humans have always had a special knack for subjecting their fellows to endless labor, hunger, disease and death. Perhaps more accurately, they have a special ability to forget the past, to repeat mistakes and to succumb quite easily to the will of others. We have certainly come far in a brief history. There are places that claim equality and freedom for all, places where we are free to express ourselves, to practice whatever religion we choose, pick our livelihoods. The list goes on, yet still we suffer from the corruption that comes with power. Still we allow ourselves to be governed by those whose interests do not lie with our own. And yes still, people live out their lives in terrible pain and suffering, doing everything they can to live just one more day.
In the United States 10 million individuals control a whopping 90% of the entire country’s wealth. The remaining 10% is doled out to the rest of the population, 290 million. Equality apparently, is not really such an important idea here in America. Globally the trend is the same, with a tiny elite in control of nearly all the wealth.
You might feel disheartened to hear such figures, especially when prices and inflation climb ever onwards. We struggle to pay our bills, rely on credit to get by, complain about gas prices. All while this tiny group of individuals makes more in a minute than we do in a year. It is unfair to say the least, even more so to those who are barely holding on outside of our developed nations. I can’t understand how people worth millions and billions of dollars can bear to look at themselves in the mirror. I guess when it’s framed in gold you can focus on that instead.
I’m not advocating communism, or socialism or any other ‘ism.’ But I do believe it’s important that every person be able to eat, to have access to sanitary water, to basic education, basic health care, and the means to make a living, whether it be farming by hand or sitting in a cubicle all day.
The blame can’t fall solely on the heads of the unbelievably rich, because we ourselves have been happy enough to keep them there. We put them there by allowing ourselves to succumb to the false ideals of consumption. Advertising is God. Don’t believe me? Just compare the time you watch TV to the time you spend in church. And I bet you pay more attention to that glittering little box too. It is a tool we have all fallen prey to. When it’s not the TV it’s the ceaseless bombardment of signs, logos, stores, restaurants and countless other things. We are consumers, not citizens.
More people voted for American Idol than the last Presidential Election, yet we complain loudly when our government is fraught with corruption and inefficiency. We carry on endlessly about how our education systems have become a joke, how the war was such a mistake, how jobs are fewer and fewer, prices higher, homelessness more prominent, health care too costly… and a host of other things. We whine on and on that it’s not right, that it’s unfair, and then promptly sit down and do absolutely nothing about it. We go back to our TVs, to our iPods, and Playstations, to our fast cars and greasy foods. We go back to acting like insatiable children, intent only upon getting what we want, regardless of what that means for others and ourselves.
Selfishness shapes our lives. The desire for more and more drives everything. Here in America we are the consumers of the world, yet make up a mere fraction of it. It’s a title we’ve become complacent with, even proud to hold up. Doesn’t it bother anyone that we have become the temperamental two year old of the world population, the ones that take endlessly, always wanting more? We’ve long since ceased any real production of goods, and export practically nothing.
And while we’re so busy consuming and sucking up everything possible, the rich get richer and the poor desperately poorer.
I was browsing around the internet recently and came across a short little story about a certain photographer. While in Africa he took a picture that won a Pulitzer Prize. He had come across a little girl struggling to crawl to an aid station where food was available. He said he crouched and waited about 20 minutes after a vulture landed in hopes it would spread its wings. The author of the article stated vehemently how horrible of a person he was because he simply got up and walked away, leaving her to die.
(See Image At End of Article)
At first, without knowing anything about the photographer, I agreed with the author of the article. I was disgusted, appalled, and angry. How could someone just walk away from that? Another question follows, and a much more important one.
How is it that you and I do exactly the same thing every day? One cannot claim ignorance. These images are a part of our lives, from our own streets to newspapers and television.
And every morning we get up, we do our daily routine, come home, and sleep soundly through the night.
And every morning, people just like you and I wake up to a starkly different world, to a reality where vultures patiently wait to feed on starving children. A world we can hardly imagine, and are inclined to easily forget.
I will be perfectly honest with you. I cried more than a little when I looked at that picture; it embodies everything that is wrong in this world. It represents the loss of our humanity, and the hopelessness and suffering of millions. We are a part of that, every one of us.
We each have the power to stand up, to fight for what is good and right. To demand the responsibility and accountability of our leaders. To demand the right of every human being to live without fear, without hunger. We can, each of us, be the agents of change.
There is something fundamentally wrong in our world, and we are responsible for it. As long as the religions of Selfishness, Consumption and Greed are worshiped by the masses, there will always be suffering. There will always be famine, disease and war.
As long as you sit there and watch the mindless crap coming out of your television, as long as you flock to the shopping malls to buy and buy and buy, as long as you waste every day of your lives searching for happiness with plastic, metal and paper - the human race will be doomed to failure.
There is nothing more wrong to me than the lifestyles we live every day. What greater an evil can exist than to forsake all of mankind for a piece of plastic?
Kevin Carter was the man who took that picture, he killed himself not long after. He had seen first hand what we are capable of.
We have accomplished much, we have also purposefully caused the deaths of millions upon millions of our own kind and allow millions more to linger on the brink.
Events are closing in on us that will change the history of our race. I can only hope that in the hardship of the times ahead, we will recognizes our errors and begin anew.
