Forgotten Corners

In a speech by Barack Obama he mentions the "forgotten corners" of the world, since reading this line for a class I have been shaken. I am shaken because I know the truth that lies behind these words, we don't think about people who have no food or water or shelter. We do not think about babies who are eaten by rats the size of cats in their sleep or girls who sell their bodies on the street because they have no money and this is the only thing they know.

This Christmas, Ben and I are thinking about these people, I don't want it to sound like we have done nothing for ourselves or others but we are certainly thinking a little more about the forgotten coreners of our world. When asked the question, "What would you do with a million dollars?" I think that I would do something. I would change the world... because $4000 digs a well and gives a village, fresh clean water. Why shouldn't clean water be a natural human right? Why, when we know we can change something, do we stand by idly? I have been moved by this, I have been changed by people and action and the truth.

I am not convinced that empathy of this nature is a gift, I am haunted by the things that I cannot do and the affect this has on the world. Watching the news this morning, they were discussing soup kitchens and their recent overflow; one woman was seen putting her food from the kitchen into a miata and I thought, are we such a nation that we think owning a miata is a necessity so we need to get a handout from the government. We need to rethink the way that we live our lives and perhaps this "economic crisis" is a wakeup call that we have been living too luxurioualy while the world suffered. Today I turned on the water and it ran clean, with $4000 I could give a whole village that same gift.