Adjusting The Balance - A Human Concern
For as long as I can remember, I have been concerned about issues of freedom and social justice, those humanitarian issues that always seem to plague our society on a global level. It is from this concern that my humanitarian poetry arises. In this day and age, there is still hunger on a world-wide level even in the so-called “developed” nations. But yet how can any country see itself as “developed” when some of its citizens go to bed hungry, or in fact do not have a bed of their own at all?
A minute percentage of the world’s population controls the vast percentage of its wealth, and therein lies the proverbial rub. Of course, if one is a stake-holder in that wealth, one seeks to protect it. But guarding that status quo is not the way to go, and history has proven that. And history, being the great teacher that it is, will continue to make its point until some perk up their ears and listen.
When the world is divided into haves and have-nots, into winners and losers of wealth and war, there will always be imbalance, and therein lie the seeds of further discord and continuing lack of balance. If the G-8 focused on bringing financial stability to less fortunate nations and segments of society, rather than seeking their own political agendas inevitably related to oil interests, what a different it would make.
And this amounts to far more than the U.S. or Canada shipping in supplies in emergency situations and to affluent families donating the ubiquitous Christmas turkey. To those who regularly live in hunger, every day is a crisis. “Teach a man to fish…” is a most apt phrase here.
Let us share the wealth and teach each other to fish. Let us share our knowledge and skills on a free basis, and rectify that imbalance. Only when we do so will we live in any degree of global prosperity, harmony, and peace. Let the humanistic poets of the world, few of whom live in any degree of luxury, be heard…
Tags: Add new tag, global concerns, humanitarian poetry, sharing of resources