IT'S UP TO US!

What if this was your child? My child?

In the movie "Wall Street," Michael Douglas' character utters the now-famous words "Greed is good."

It was a great movie. But greed isn't good. It's pathetic. It's cruel. It's an abomination that creates immense suffering.

Right now in Somalia there is a crisis of incredible proportions. A drought and refugee crisis. Yes, there's always a crisis somewhere -- even in the U.S. -- and "we can't save everyone." But we should try harder than we do.

We should help on two fronts: 1/ We should give a few dollars to aid relief for Somalia -- which all but the very poorest of us can afford; 2/ We should fight the bigger problem of international greed by making our voices heard to our governments regarding things like "globalization," using our taxes for benevolent and practical purposes rather than military spending and giving tax breaks to corporations and the rich, by yelling out that we've had enough and that ordinary people are the majority and we want a fairer world!

And it should and COULD be much fairer. All the political double-speak and capitalist hoodwinking has dragged us all through the mud.

It's up to us, ALL of us, to help the people in Somalia and the poor in our own countries, to fight for a kinder world, to be active members of the human race and not just think in terms of ourselves. If we only think of our own situations, even if we are struggling, then we are greedy too.

I truly believe that ALL of us can do SOMETHING. Even if you don't have money to give, not even a dollar, you are reading this on the Internet so you can fire off emails to members of Congress and the president, sign petitions and much more. Your silence is what the greed of others feeds on. They want us to stand by and just accept it.

We must help our fellow humans. We must make ourselves heard. We have the power.

It's up to us.

[You can give via UNICEF here or do a Net search for other charities helping in Somalia.]

Take care,
Adrian

IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG POST INTERESTING you might like to take a look at CHILD HUNGER -- THE SCOURGE OF THE PLANET.

PS: Ironically, I'm listening to a Henry Rollins song right now called "Do It" that has the refrain: "Don't think about it/Do it/Don't talk about it/Do it." I kind of believe we get messages sometimes that we were meant to get.