Fate of the Union, Fate of the World

Tonight Barack Obama’s speech addressing the current issues facing the United States was broadcast on the ship. It was truly a joy to listen to the words of a president of our nation resonate on a personal level with my peers and myself. As we gathered in the Union to watch Obama’s first public address in front of all of congress, I felt for the first time a genuine sense of interest and pride in what is going on in our country.
I have a newfound love for CNN and have been trying to keep tabs on things going on at home, so I had a good foundation of information so as to understand exactly what Obama was talking about. Its funny how much more aware I’ve become of things in the U.S. since I’ve left it.
Obama spoke with humor, personality and a sense of urgency that certainly helped to answer many of my questions and quell some of my fears about where our country is headed. I am about 1/3 of the way through my trip (a thought that has become increasingly sad and scary in the past few days) and I have started to gain an appreciation for how the events in the United States have a rippling effect across the globe.
I find myself watching the news with an entirely new attitude. I’ve realized that each and every one of us is so completely blessed with even the ability to offer our help and our knowledge to those less fortunate than us. As I travel, I also realize that I am increasingly attuned to many issues in the countries we are visiting that I ignore when I’m at home, such as the poverty and homelessness on the streets where I live.
I spent an entire day on a service trip in a Township in Cape Town at an orphanage. The poverty and despair in these areas is devastating in a way that is far too overwhelming to describe on paper, and is impossible to capture in a single photograph or even a video clip. On the other hand, however, the passion and warmth of the people in the Township is equally hard to describe, for theirs is a joy that exists without the support of material objects, but stands alone as a testament to their will. I do not say this to glorify poverty, I say it to glorify the strength of the people who live in adversity but live every day with their heads held high and their hearts in a noble place. Part of me wants to talk about my experience for hours and another part wants to push it from my mind and never think about it again. I know, however, that ignoring an issue is the direct cause of ignorance. I can no longer claim ignorance, and so I can no longer ignore.
As each generation sits contemplating our problems ranging from retirement funds to college loans, I ask all of you reading this to take a look at the following message I was given to me by my professor in my International Service-Learning class. No matter where you are across the globe, I figure we can all use a little perspective:

If we could shrink the earth’s population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing ratios remaining the same, there would be:

52 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere (North and South)
8 Africans
52 Females
48 Males
70 would be non-white
30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world’s wealth and all 6 would be from the U.S.
80 people would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from mal-nutrition
1 would have a college education
1 would own a computer

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the pangs of starvation…you are head of 500 million people in the world.

If you can attend a religious meeting of your choice without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death…you are more blessed than 3 billion people in the world.

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep…you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, your wallet and spare change in a dish someplace…you are among the top 8% of the worlds wealthy.

If your parents are still alive and still married, you are very rare, even in the U.S. and Canada.

If you can hold someone’s hand, hug them or even touch them…you are lucky because you can offer healing touch.

If you can read this message, you are luckier than over 2 billion people in the world that cannot read at all.