The Sum of our Inaction

[Vegeta]

In the United States, 37 million people live in poverty. Poverty means to say that these people do not make an income that supports themselves. The required income of a person under 65 has to be below about $9,500 (a year) before they will be considered "living in poverty". 37 million people do not make $9,500 a year.

Why does this happen? Simply put, because you and I do nothing to stop it. You ignore it, you claim "I don't have any money to give!". There are more then a few places who need your time and volunteering. If you don't have money to give, give time. Truly, if you say you do not money to give it is because you are choosing to have no money to give. If you choose practicability over vanity for a month and donate the money you save you will not see a decrease in your standard of living. You will get to eat. You will still have a home. While not designer clothes, you will still be clothed. The $500 you want to spend on that purse could improve someone's life leaps and bounds. And to think if people other then yourself were to do the same, poverty could all but vanish.

But it doesn't. We still have 37 million people starving in our streets because we choose inaction. We choose to do nothing, to ignore and to pretend everything is okay. These are our cities, our homes, our lives.. and what kind of people would we be if we did not try to better them? I'm not even talking about foreign countries, distant lands. No, right now I'm just talking about the here and the now.

I am going to go so far as to say, this poverty is your fault. These people are starving directly because of something you did. More truly, something you have not done. Accept responisbilty for your inaction. You are the reflection of mankind, and to do nothing is to believe that mankind will also do nothing.

Another crisis fueled by our unwillingness to help is HIV/AIDS. Globally, there are about 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS. I'm not sure the number truly has the impact it should. 40,000,000 people. That's the population of New York City five times over or the entire population of Spain.

40,000,000 people is a lot of people.

Why do these people have to live with this condition? It is because you and I have not made the choice to cure this disease. With enough money and brilliant people anything is possible. There are plenty of both in this world today, so what's the problem? Inaction, once again. The majority of people have chosen to stray from donating their time, their money, and their minds.

Humor me for a moment, it is reasonable to say that you could come up with a dollar, correct? I have at least a dollar in change on my desk as I write this. I do not believe it unreasonable to say that you could find a dollar, or skip that candy bar from the vending machine after lunch and have a dollar.

It is pretty much general knowledge that there are 6 billion people living on this Earth. There is an estimated 30% unemployment rate globally but let's be generous with that number and say that only 3 billion people are able donators.

I'm sure you see what this is headed, it's reasonable to say that these 3 billion able donators could spare a dollar a month. If these people would chose action, and donate these $12 every year there would be an additional $36,000,000,000 in aid. (36 billion dollars). There's a little fluxuation in this number, some people may not give as much and some may give more.

Where does this money go now? Lottery tickets, cigarettes, coffee and chocolate bars. I'm sure these corporations would not be happy about $36 billion dollars in lost business, but I bet the people who benefit would be much more grateful then these corporate giants currently are.

The message here is that this is your problem. Our problem.

If we don't do anything about it... who will?

[Raditzu]

Originally posted by Koola
This is nothing more then a theoritical solution, but it's more then many have offered.

Next time, leave that part out. It makes those of us who have inflicted polerty and AIDS upon others more willing to simply use that statement to nullify everything that came before it.

[Vegeta]

yes

[Tobias]

Very good. Nothing that hasn't been said a hundred times over, but very good.

[Vegeta]

that's what annoys me. it's been said again and again countless times. but what the hell has been done?

[Ruhiel]

It definitely got the point across. However, I would definitely avoid going into HIV/AIDS. Money can't buy cures. We can give to help fund tests and trials, but that won't cure those diseases. So, I really disagree with you there, however I think very good on the rest. How it made you want to give that dollar because you could and someone else might need it.

While I don't fully agree with the stance you're taking, I'm gonna say for the point you were trying to get across, you did a damn good job of it.

[Vegeta]

doing nothing also won't cure these diseases.

[Ruhiel]

>.>

I'd like to put up my entire paper about WHY we can't pursue those cures (because dammit, I'm gonna need one in a few years), but I don't want to start an idealogical argument.

I'm just merely saying you can throw all the money in the world at something, but it won't come up with a cure. Some of our greatest breakthroughs were accidents, and didn't even have enough funding.

[Vegeta]

But I'm saying that the common man cannot cure these diseases. And to do nothing says that we do not care about their sufferage.

Sadly, in most cases, we don't.

This is what you and I can do.

[Tobias]

*puts words in 20s mouth"

"... and there are more immediate and concrete problems that require our funding."

[Kami]

So you're saying people should just not care and maybe someday we'll mix some stuff together and HIV/AIDS will go away? What if those breakthroughs had enough funding? Would they have done it sooner? Would the cures have been better?

At risk of sounding biased, it seems perfectly logical to me that a person could give a small amount of cash, and en masse that adds up to be a very large number which can be used effectively.

It's a call to action, and yes, it's sad that it has all been said before.

EDIT: "The only way evil triumphs is for good men to do nothing."

[Vegeta]

You've missed the point.

The point is we do nothing.

People die because we do nothing.

And yet, we continue to do nothing.

[Ruhiel]

Koola's right on the giving money to find a way to alleviate poverty. Most of us don't consider during the day of donating to those in need. And if we see someone on the street who would need that kind of help, we go out of our way to avoid them.

And Kami, HIV/AIDS on the disease level are seriously the least of our concerns right now. Not trying to say they aren't important, because they are, but on the medical field, we're looking at an inevitable worldwide pandemic. HIV/AIDS luckily for us, does not evolve.

[Tobias]

Im not saying we abandon research on disease. Im not saying we ignore it. However, the list of things in need of money is long. Some of those are, from my POV, more important and offer semi-immediate concrete results. Putting money into research is fine and dandy, but to me there are too many 'ifs' for it to be at the top of my list. My dollar/s there might bring about a cure. My dollar/s will clothe a man and feed him.

No point in doing soemthing if it brings up the same results as nothing.


/slow typer. fast topic.

[Old Dave]

Bro, you got a way with writting *shrug* I found that informitive.

[Minoshia]

20 i seriously disagree with everything you say about not needing Funding to help fight aids. Think about 36 billion dollars, that is well enough to help poverty, HIV/AIDS research and The Avian Flu research. If we all get going and do something, then a cure will be found quicker. Yes the Avian Flu is threatening us at a more rapid rate, and it will kill us off quicker, the influenza of 1918 killed something like 20-40 million people? i wanna say, i could be way off. And they are predicting the Avian Flu, to kill two, maybe 3 times as many as that. Which is a incredible threat and i fully agree that main attention has to be focused on that.

May i stress main attention, mankind can focus on more then two, or three, damned things at once. We can throw a shitload of money, (or you seem to think none at all would be a better approac) at the Avian Flu and develop a cure quickly, and save millions of lives. But why can't we also put money into helping fight Aids. 40 million people, the maximum that died in 1918 influenza, have it today. (as Koola stated) but the total deaths related to and directly caused by HIV/AIDS are uncountable. Way more then anyone has predicted for the Avian Flu. To say that we should not put funding into finding a cure for HIV/AIDS, is downright ignorant and stubborn. You are completely looking over one of the, if not the biggest, killer of mankind in the last 30 years. We need to find a cure for HIV/AIDS as soon as we can.

[Raditzu]

People do nothing because they don't care. As long as they're not the ones with AIDS, or whatever, it doesn't affect them. Sad truth.

EDIT: I should say, though, that I find your point to be somewhat hypocritical, Koola. You're pointing the finger, and banging your gavel, but not actually accomplishing anything. If you provide, for example, a website or somesuch that I can make the aforementioned $1 donation a month, I will make a point of doing so.

[Minoshia]

I know, Its disgusting. I'm just stating that 20's blatant disregard for the fact that we need to step up and do something about HIV/AIDS now, not later after we're done everything and we just find a cure because we have nothing else to entertain our vast pockets, And it amazes me because he seems like a very intelligent individual.

[Raditzu]

I wasn't talking to anyone in particular with my post, I was simply stating a generaliztion. Personally, I don't really care, myself. Call me cold, or black-hearted, or a flat our asshole, doesn't change how I feel.

[Hellfighter 17]

He was stating that others could be helped much more effectively, such a sthose who live in poverty. Besides, there are otehr disease sthat kill a LOT more than AIDS.

The thing is, those who read this will simply forget about it by tomorrow and move on.