We live in a world where a lot of bad things occur every day. The things is, though, that many Americans seem to want to focus only on America’s tragedies, and not what goes on around the world.
I know we have a lot of problems here. My county, Labette, has been called the new Appalachia in a report. It’s a bad situation, and it probably won’t be improving in the near future because many of the children don’t finish school and they find themselves in the same trap as their parents.
We should consider the magnitude of problems in other places compared to here. I use Africa as an example, not because it is used over and over again, but because my heart breaks a little every time I see a special about African refugees or starving children or mass violence on TV. Looking at the larger picture, at least the people living in the ramshackle house in Labette County do have a house. They have government assistance to get regular meals and medical care. Even though the system is flawed, it has good intentions and it helps some people. Other places and other people are not so lucky.
We have children sick and starving in America, but not on the same scale. Around the world millions of mothers are watching their children starve to death. Anderson Cooper reported on a family who had no food, so they made a stew from tree leaves. The stew would be enough to keep the adults alive, but they knew the children would slowly die because the leaves did not have enough nutritional value to support a growing child. It’s a hard and sad fact, and it’s true across the world.
Violence against women is a particularly gruesome crime committed in America. Fortunately, women have some options here. They have legal rights and access to medical attention. In Africa though, women are being raped on massive scale, often by militant groups, and it goes beyond simple rape. Accounts of women being attacked and mutilated with knives and loaded guns are rife.
I hear people say we should take care of problems here at home before we help people in other countries. We will always have problems here. Should we tell the women in Africa whose children are starving and dying of treatable illnesses, the women who are being brutally raped, to wait a few years? After we take care of the people here, we’ll get to you when we can. In the mean time, just keep feeding your children leaves. I have a hard time accepting that.
We aren’t solving all the problems in America at once, so in the mean time, why don’t we send a little help to other places that are in desperate need of any kind of assistance we can give. I remember my mom caught me throwing a piece of candy in the trash when I was little and she told me some starving little girl in Africa would love to have it. While it may not be feasible to box up our leftovers and ship it to Africa, we should remember them and their problems. When we’re complaining about gas, doctor’s bills, and anything else we want fixed, we should think of the things they need help with. I definitely won’t be grumbling if the government manages to find a way to help ease the starvation and disease anywhere around the world.