How to Take the First Step to Fight Global Hunger
ReputationProfessor.Com World Hunger By Kim Petit.
It is easy to believe that technology has helped everyone. We live such comfortable lives, after all. We really benefit from an almost remarkable level of abundance and convenience. Even middle and working class people tend to have plenty to eat, good sources of transportation, and a wide variety of recreational activities that are not available in a lot of the world. We work longer hours than we used to, but we still do have plenty of recreation time to unwind.
Once you look at world hunger statistics, however, it becomes clear that all is not so rosy . In much of the world, poverty is a daily reality. Even hunger in America is a problem. This was shocking to me the first time I learned this. I had a teacher who had us study world hunger. He wanted us to be aware not only of our neighborhood, our state, and our country, but of our entire extended world community. Before he showed us an article, he asked what we thought about world hunger statistics. I was confident in my reply. I told him that, except for a few isolated areas, I believed that we had wiped out hunger and poverty in the world. Boy, was I in for a shock when I read the world hunger statistics!
The really scary thing was how easily I slipped back into a state of everything as usual, even after I was alerted to the reality of world hunger statistics. We like to think that we care about our fellow man, but when we look at our actions on the whole, it is quite clear that we don’t. It is so easy to forget about world poverty statistics, to go on living a life of affluence as if nothing is wrong. I am as guilty as anyone.
A few years later, however, I became so frustrated with my own apathy that I knew that the time for action was at hand. I decided to join a group to end world hunger. A friend of mine laughed at my naïve idealism. He also was familiar with the world hunger statistics, and he argued that it would not be as easy as I thought to end poverty. He knew that economic factors were complex, and felt that there was no easy solution.
I realize his arguments are valid, but I think it is even more important to realize that the world hunger statistics demand immediate action by all of us. If everyone was dedicated to ending world hunger, a solution could be found!