Poverty Is The Worst Form Of Violence- Ghandi

Today, as you may note to the link at the bottom of this post, is Blog Action Day. Seeing as I am fully obsessed with blogging (in case you couldn't tell), and because Kevin basically made me feel like a monster for not posting (because I didn't know about it!), I'm posting today. This year's theme is poverty. To be honest, I don't even know what to say. Poverty seems so wrong to me. I find it completely unnecessary. If your brother was left without a home, would you not offer him a place to stay? If so, why are there so many people in this situation all over the world today? How are they left without food for themselves? What brought them to this? I cannot comprehend how anyone can allow their family or friends to live this way. I'm not saying to run to New York and grab as many homeless people as you can find, I'm just saying that. . . everyone knows at least one person in this world. The people we have without money or shelter or food . . . I don't understand how someone can be forced to live this way. All I can think is "Where is their family? How do we allow this?"

When I think of violence, I think of anything that could possibly hurt someone. By allowing people to starve, to live on street corners, in crowded shelters, we are ultimately hurting them. We are allowing these people to starve. What makes me the most upset is that there are children, my age and younger, who are stuck like this. Do me a favor. Walk into the kitchen. Go to your cabinet, or refridgerator, and remove anything that you're craving. People suffering in poverty can't do that. It makes you think, doesn't it.

Now, think of the teenagers you know. For most of us, our biggest concern is the price of our phones (I know girls who have stopped talking to each other over being jealous over the other's phone. Teenagers disgust me.), our clothes, our iPods, our Facebooks. . . I'm the first to admit that I'm guilty of forgetting how fortunate I am. Many times. And knowing that I have forgotten, frankly disgusts me. It makes me want to smash my phone, and then open my mouth so wide that I could swallow myself whole; Just make myself disappear. At the moment, I completely sicken myself.

So from now on, I hope I can remember that there are people whose lives are SO much worse than mine. Yes, I have my own problems, but they don't even being to amount to those of some of the others on this planet. I swear to confront the phone snobs. I promise to never forget how lucky I am. Teenagers today have amounted to utter garbage. So do me a favor, ungrateful ones, and take your five hundred dollar cell phones, and use it to buy yourself a brain. And a conscious.

Thank you.

Here are some pictures to get you thinking about how you can help. I know I for one, plan on Googling nearby soup kitchens and charities for poverty, very, very soon. Can you say fundraiser?