This isn’t for you or against you, whoever you are. This is for me, and for Blog Action Day 2011.
I hate to pester people in their happy bubbles of existence but sometimes it’s necessary to remind oneself how lucky one is to have access to the most rudimentary of things: shelter, food and water. There is no doubt that we take these things for granted.
It’s easy to find scary statistics to put a point across, but often they lack accuracy or are taken out of context. Well, these aren’t such statistics — they’re from the UN’s World Food Programme, and they’re both accurate and shocking:
- One out of four children – roughly 146 million – in developing countries is underweight
(Source: The State of the World’s Children, UNICEF, 2007) - Every day, 16,000 children die of starvation (most of them under five). This equates to 1 child every 5 seconds.
(Source: Food Insecurity in the World, FAO, 2005)
These numbers are beyond comprehension, to a degree, because of their enormity. It’s difficult to fathom. But it’s happening, and you should take it in. This is the world you live in. Face it, accept it, and if, in these facts, you find the impetus to make a change, then great! Even a small change is a great change.
When one thinks of a child, in Western society, she has parents, and they love her, and they would die for her at an instant. They sacrifice years of freedom and financial security to bring her up in this world. This one child will receive so much love and devotion. To think of the absolute devastation this child’s death would bring an entire community is almost laughable in comparison to the absolute silence with which a child perishes in other parts of the world. It means nothing.
Don’t be a coward about it. It’s not too depressing to think about. If you can’t handle the reality of life and insist on living in a bubble of make-believe then fine, but know that the joy and pain that you’ll feel is probably nothing in comparison to both the suffering, ecstasy and bliss that can be felt if you leave the bubble.
Graham Nash said:
Life is not perfect, and it never will be, you just have to make the best of it and open your heart to what the world can show you. Sometimes it’s terrifying and sometimes it’s incredibly beautiful, and I’ll take both — thanks.
Don’t shy away from the world. It’s the real thing. Experience it. Love it. Improve it.
Thanks for reading! Please share your thoughts with me on Twitter. Have a great day!
Great post James. I normally come to your blog to read about JavaScript, but I have to say that I have enjoyed this post… a good reminder to burst that comfy bubble…
gracias James, es este realmente un gran blog!
There are more devastating facts about children dying and yes, seems scary to view the statistics, but life is life, and this is just the way human kind lives.
Just the other day i was reading the same sentence on a poster in the road and how was wondering “Is this true? How can they know this?”
I believe that a time like this has never come before, that we can know and find a way to face these problems. In the past violence existed and nothing could done, not even think it could be done.
So we need to find this positive feeling inside ourselves that this human maturity is progressing.
Nice Post James. i reach out your blog to read front end development best practices. but i would say that this “The Absolute Silence” made noise in my heart.
James you have brought up a very important observation which I feel every well to do family should remember while they are enjoying their time with their kids. They should remember that even if they could parcel the left over after finishing their meals at a fine dining restaurant and hand it over to the poor children begging around, that it self could be a good start to overcome the issue of child starvation specifically in the developing countries.
This reminds me of my tour to one of the Asian countries when while returning from dinner everytime I use to get the left over food parceled and use to move around the streets to find beggers specifically children to hand over them the food. The smile that I could see on their faces use to give me immense satisfaction and sense of fullness which the dinner could not give.
Apart from Corporate Social Responsibility each citizen of these nations who specifically are well off should think of taking responsibility of feeding at least one such starving kid either directly or through NGO’s working in this field. This I strongly think will elimiate child starvation in such countries.
Great posts. I liked the article very much. Actually it is so true that there are many children below poverty line and starvation is rampant in many countries. There are many NGOS that are striving towards eradicating this. But it is not reaching the right person.
James , marvelous job you have done by posting this information among people as they are not aware about these things.This is right, taking forward a small steps by us will improve this posture.