Sunday, March 29, 2009

spread the love

How do people have closets full of designer clothes when others go around in rags?

Why do people sleep in beds with Egyptian cotton pillows and silk down blankets while others sleep on dusty, cockroach-infested floors?

How do we eat around 2000 calories a day when others may have to starve for a week?

It's all because we have power.
But so many people have forgotten (or neglected) the fact that
"With great power comes great responsibility."

I'm a picky eater. Refusing my mom's green peppers, she told me [roughly and in translation], "if we sent you to the country in China for a year, you would eat anything." I rolled my eyes. "What do you think they eat there, every day?" "I dunno, rice?" I mumbled. She was flabbergasted. "Rice? Rice is a luxury they couldn't afford in a trillion years."

And then the fact that parents sell their own children into slavery for the USD equivalent of $7.
I spent $7 on dinner tonight.
I basically ate the equivalent of a child's whole life. (And I'm still not full... ;] )

So reconsider next time you're thirsty and pick up a bottle of soda. Every penny you spend on something trivial is also one penny someone else could use to feed himself for the first time in days, or that could put a roof over someone's head.

Sharing is Caring by cute_confusion (deviantart)

SHARING IS CARING!

10 comments:

  1. tina you make me feel bad>:{( lol...but yea you haz a point...

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  2. It's called Natural Selection.
    Social Darwanism.

    Just kidding. I do feel bad about what people are doing, but it's not like we're going to save a child's life by refusing to buy a bottle of soda. I'd rather not spend my life upset about those less fortunate than I. Just be happy for what you have.

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  3. ..you had me O___O for two seconds on the Social Darwinism thing.. xD

    We might not save their lives, but we can at least make it a bit more bearable! Saving the dollar to feed a kid in Africa for a day or to give a homeless guy a thanksgiving meal might end up making you happier than the soda could have ever made you! It's a win-win situation. :D

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  4. Life has to have good and bad, yin and yang. Deal with it -___-

    Well.. not that harshly, but I agree with Jeri. Just because you don't get something yourself doesn't mean it'll stop a family in China from selling their child. And stop it with the Africa stuff already. Africa's not the only country, and while in an economic depression, I think you should be worrying more about keeping yourself healthy, then care for others. I'm not saying to buy some designer bag that's $200 dollars because you have the money to, but make sure your body gets all the nutrients needed first. Carbohydrates aren't enough Tina -____-.

    As for the soda thing, I see what you mean there, soda's bad for you anyways. But if it's basic nutrition, or just a small luxury you haven't had a while, it's worth it to just get it (as long as it's not crazy expensive and completely not worth it). There's nothing wrong with enjoying yourself. Giving it all away to other people just makes your own life miserable (I'm speaking from experience so don't argue >:[). Besides, there has to be bad things that happen in the world. You always talk about "well can't we just make the world more perfect?" even when you yourself JUST said that for "every positive thing, there's a negative reaction." So wouldn't that mean for every person we help in the world, there's another who suffers for it? I get the point of helping and all, but you're contradicting yourself. You might want to pick a side before you argue for anything, or even rant on about it. Cause then you just lose the point of the rant:/

    Btw, it's a feather-down blanket. There's no such thing as silk-down. And I know you were referring to me there >:[

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  5. Enjoy yourself, but don't go overboard! And giving to others might make you enjoy life even more.

    Of course someone's going to suffer if someone else is going to gain something, but if we already are happy/healthy 90% of the time, we can afford to give 10% to someone who is sad/sick every once in a while, instead of boosting ourselves to 300%, leaving people who could really need it in the dust.

    And you weren't the one who bought the silk/down blankets, so that's not really your fault. :P

    We're in a recession (not a depression)... (although it might be a depression soon :D) And you can tell that to yourself when you buy 3 bags of Ghiradelli (or however you spell it) chocolate! They aren't especially healthy, or needed nutrients. Yet we still all buy them. Would it hurt to skip a bag every once in a while and instead give it to someone so they can put some meat on their bones? Is it really that hard? And yes, initially I was mainly targeting those who buy $300 Gucci purses, or crocodile-skin boots (which are bad to begin with >:[ ). In addition, we're part of the better-off group in the recession. We won't doubt the fact that there will still be food in our fridge, our that we'll have a house to put our fridge in. The recession shouldn't crush our spirits!

    Of course giving it ALL away would make your own life miserable... because you have to maintain your life/health at least.(and have you really given everything away before? o_O You still have clothes on your back, etc... yeah but that's besides the point.) Anyways, if you gave SOME things to people other than the people at school, or walking down the street, (a.k.a. people who really need it), I can guarantee you you will NOT be miserable.

    It doesn't mean it'll stop a family in China from selling their child (I was actually referring to India, by the way, but whatever), but could potentially be used to help somebody, somewhere out there. And it will do something. And that's always better than nothing.

    Africa's just a good example. Of course I'm not limiting all the bad things that happen to Africa! xD

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  6. O.o did I type depression? I thought I typed recession... my bad :D

    And you can't blame me for that. I bought them for you guys you know -____-. They're for Easter! Cause it's nice to celebrate the little holidays that get no attention:] Besides, who said that I do it all the time? Just because I tend to buy things doesn't mean that I buy the exact same things all the time. I bought chocolate two times, for Valentines Day and now for Easter, and you start over generalizing things and accusing of constant spending. Even with the way you phrase it, it's still the same thing and a complete lie -____-

    ANYWAYS~ You can give away some things, yeah, but don't argue so much about it. It gives off the impression of you trying to force people to give everything away. Going "you know that's [insert money here] that you could feed [insert number here] children in Africa with?!?!" and attacking them while yelling is really offensive to people (like Fluffy and Allen and others...), or it just irritates them beyond end. If you want to support donating and such, keep it to yourself. It sets a better example, and people will automatically join themselves. Otherwise something like "do you really want [insert item here] that badly?" makes people re-think.

    And nope! I wasn't referring to giving absolutely everything away. Just things like your lunch, your money, your clothes, and etc to your friends. But yeah, basically your point has no point: you're contradicting yourself again.

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  7. Yeah, I said that, and admitted that it was besides the subject. But you accuse me of overgeneralizing and then you go and do it too with the "all". (I know I used "all" several times too :] .) It's impossible not to generalize, so if you want to pick that fight, you're a hypocrite. :]

    I'm not forcing anyone to do anything. And I'm not trying to get everyone to give everything. I simply wrote yet another blog entry stating how I feel. And I feel that it would help the world as a whole if everyone who wanted to gave a little.

    It's not attacking, or yelling, when I say "you know that could feed # kids in Africa". I'm suggesting a new perspective of the object and price, so that you can really consider whether you need it or not in the standpoint of the world. If you just say "do you want it that badly", it makes it all about the buyer. But what I'm trying to stress in these situations is that we're not doing it for the buyer, but for others in need. If I just convince someone not to buy it, then the money's going to sit in some wallet and get spent a bit later on something probably just as trivial. If instead you see the worth of the money and donate it, then something is actually resolved.

    People will NOT automatically join in donating if I do. That would be really really wonderful and I really wish the world worked like that, but the hard, cold truth is that it doesn't.

    And yes, they're mostly always for different things, but there are so so so so SO many occasions and reasons and excuses to buy things nowadays, that whether they're for yourself or for a friend, it doesn't really make a difference, other than that the money is still being spent to make oneself/one's friends happy. And of course, being happy is always a good thing. But the potential in that money, the good it could do other than repeated happiness for the same select few, is extremely huge and I would like people these days to embrace it, because it clearly hasn't been.

    I wasn't talking about you when I said we keep spending. I was talking about society. And yes, that's what we need to bring the economy up, but it would not hurt if a tiny stream from the huge river of money were diverted to those whose livelihoods depend on it. :]

    Thanks for buying the chocolate, and I'm sure it will make everyone happy, but really, it wasn't completely necessary. It was extremely considerate, but still the fact is that that piece of chocolate would be better off in a starving man's hand than mine.

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  8. Wowwww... I like how this has multiplied into something 10x the size of my initial blog entry... xD

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  9. im sad now...the poorest people i know in china eat better food than i do, by a long run. healthier and less cancer-inducing, at least. but then they aint city peoples...

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