A friend of mine posted this words on his Facebook status this morning. I found them to be words that connect with thoughts and feelings I’ve been mulling recently, and appreciated the way he articulated them. A prophetic voice in the world of consumerism, exclusive nationalism, and economic examination.
“There is only one earth. One human race. But there are indeed many brilliant ways for us to establish peace on earth. The 1st worlds have done an amazing job establishing wealth and power over time and those lucky enough to be living near the top of the economic spectrum – isn’t it grand to eat and drink what you want when you want it! What good is it really to anyone to have just the 1st-world countries living so luxurious and powerful while less powerful countries get exploited of natural-resoruces and unimaginable-treasures? The solution to world peace is the art of sacrificing wealth and power by distributing it to those who really need it. (BTW… I’m not talking about communism or putting native-tribesmen in business suites and having them work in cubicles). How much does the 1st-world really need to consume to be happy? What the 1st world really needs is to experience poverty themselves so they realize how selfish the 1st-world’s mind-set is really being – it’s like one child with a big bowl of the worlds most tasty rice, scarfing his lonely face in the corner, staring at the wall – while six hungry children stare at his back through a glass wall – remember they are hungrier than the last time you felt hunger. Let us call the natural-resources/energy-consumption of the 1st-worlds 100% and so we realize now that we could be even happier in life with just 30% and less cash-money bling–bling. The redirection of that 70% to areas of natural-disaster and poverty would give those people living in poverty and dire-situations an alternative to unwanted lives of prostitution, crime, violence and terror. Consider the ghettos in the USA. Why are they full of prostitution, crime and violence? Because the children and schools in the ghettos are impoverished. Those children living in the USA don’t really live in the 1st world i.e. they don’t eat what they want when they want it… or drink a coffee everyday.” –Jared Alden