I was reading from a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) report called Unfinished Business by Joel Quirk, and one particular quote struck me powerfully:
"When it comes to global inequality, the poorest 20% of the world's people are said to account for 1.5% of the world income, with the poorest 40% (the $2 a day poverty threshold), accounting for 5% of world income."
The next time I complain about not having something of material worth, I need to remember this. And I need to remember I have it really, really good. Sometimes it is easy to see what we don't have rather than be grateful for what we do have. In addition, we might even have things that we don't need that we could give away to someone who does need them or sell them in a yard sale or something similar and donate the money to a charity we believe in.
We can easily get caught up in how much everything costs all around us and forget how rich many of us are. If you are curious go to this website: www.globalrichlist.com, which calculates (gives you a percentage) where you place in the world's population according to wealth based on your income. It is sobering.
What can we do? Decisions can start small and make a big difference. Maybe there is a local organization you could start donating to by cutting out a coffee, meal out, new shirt you don't really need, or similar items. Maybe you could consider sponsoring a child through Compassion International (www.compassion.com) or a woman ending the cycle of poverty by gaining skills to run her own business through Women for Women International (www.womenforwomen.org). Maybe you could host a Survivor Party and sell products from The Emancipation Network/Made by Survivors (check out: www.madebysurvivors.com/Event101), an organization dedicated to fighting and eradicating sex trafficking around the world (for more on the organization see: www.madebysurvivors.com/FoundersStory). Other little steps we can make is to buy Fair Trade products when there is an option, make environmentally friendly choices by walking/riding a bike when possible, use reusable/cloth bags for shopping, invest in green energy, use natural cleaning products and toiletry items, use reusable containers rather than throwaway and so on.
There are so many ways to get involved and make responsible choices. Most of us already are doing that to one degree or another. But there are always more steps to take and we should challenge ourselves to do so.
