October 29th, 2009 - And that’s how it goes

Every generation needs a new revolution. —Thomas Jefferson

I have an addition to this famous line; to have a revolution, we first need an evolution.

We live in a time in which the world has never been healthier, wealthier, or more advanced; but absurdly, the conditions for the world’s poor has not improved for centuries regardless of our advancements. With blood-sucking organizations such as the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund leaving nothing for the poor and only caring for their own power, Leonard Cohen’s song keeps ringing in my head, “The poor stay poor and the rich gets rich, and that’s how it goes, and everybody knows…”

Does everybody know?

November is bladder-control awareness month! We have a month dedicated to not pissing our pants but shamefully and shockingly, there is no month or even a day dedicated to the number one cause of human death in the world: Hunger. No pretty pink or yellow ribbons, no merchandising propaganda, no bracelets to be sold at gas stations.  And sadly, no one seems to care.

Hunger-associated disorders kill 36 million people each year worldwide. This is more than coronary heart disease, stroke and other cerebro-vascular diseases, lower respiratory infections, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diarrheal diseases, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, tracheal, bronchial, and lung cancers, road traffic accidents, and premature or low birth weight, COMBINED.

Let me rephrase that because it is vaguely important. Despite the fact that hunger-associated disorders kill more people than the 10 major causes of death in the world, our government is more concerned with banning artificial sweeteners because of the increased rate of bladder cancer in laboratory rats that were fed large doses of saccharin!

The question remains: Why should we care?

Remember the hurricane Katrina victims? They had faces. They had media coverage. They had the whole world watching. We still failed to give them their most basic needs. Now imagine a family in Ethiopia or Haiti with no media coverage, no Wal-Mart to bring water, and nowhere to turn. Their story could be YOUR story. All it takes is one heavy cloud, one strong wind, one earthquake.

I don’t have unrealistic expectations. I know that change won’t happen overnight but I also know that if we all sit around and do nothing, nothing will ever change. It takes one step, one dollar, one person at a time and you can have a share in it. The first step is raising awareness and every single one of you is capable of doing so. Spread the word. Send this message to everyone you know, whether via Facebook, MySpace, forums, or email. It takes less than a minute of your time to care and the result is undeniable.

You can refer them to my website at www.motorcyclememoir.com. To make donations to reach the goal for the month of October, please visit the donation page on this site and make it a reality.

Revolutions start with evolving our resources and ideas. We are far away from revolution. Let’s evolve for now; revolution will follow.