OPINIONS

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Guns don't blow loads...

 

 

Jason Trask, Columnist

If you ask me
By Jason Trask
[email protected]
Columnist


All the forgotten children

My view of the world is not always bright and rosy. At times my mind is filled with war and rumors of war, and in the most lurid times filled with the tens of millions of AIDS related orphans in Africa.

These orphans are part of an enormous demographic crisis that has been brewing in Africa for years.

While the Western world continues its impressive growth, many of the world�s poorer nations have seemingly been forgotten.

It will be up to the collective �us� in a few short years to address these problems. I don�t believe it is up to America alone, but that the global community must come together as a whole to work towards better living conditions for all of the world�s people, not just the lucky few.

Of course, I don�t know the answers or solutions to these issues, and most days I am unwilling to deal with them.

It is easier just to sit back and ride my own melt, and as is often the case, it is easier to be apathetic.

While in Russia last year I had the privilege of doing some humanitarian work in orphanages around the western part of the county. As I sat in one dismal place spoon-feeding a nine-year-old girl who had never even been taught to feed herself, apathy was hammering at the door. The question that came to mind was �what can be done?�

Certainly we have to protect our country from our enemies that would bring war to our doorstep, but without doubt the hundreds of billions spent fighting our enemies would have been better spent taking care of the world�s children. It is estimated that in Africa alone there will be around 40 million orphans by 2010, according to the Awake Project.

When I sit back and ponder about the grandeur that America has achieved, I also know that many millions of children will die in the next few years from a lack of basic needs. How do we cope with the fact that while we spend our resources fighting freedom�s �enemies,� these children will be left by the tens of millions to fend for themselves.

I am not categorically against this war that we find ourselves in. I do see the need to attempt to create a secure world.

I simply desire a way to impress upon people that blowing each other up is not the best or only way to communicate and to see the funds currently used to engage in wars diverted into something more meaningful.

This sounds idealistic even to me, and I doubt seriously if I will ever see such a change in perceptions�.Sadly, this is the reality of the world in which we live. Cheers.