Save the World.

I've been to a great deal of thrift stores. I've been to many dirty places, and I've seen some saddening sights. I've seen the poor and I've seen the homeless and I harden my heart. I curse myself.

This other world, the dirty, the poor, live far away from the privileged lives of a student. They live on our peripherals, but never our focus. They are not afforded a video camera, they do not receive an interview. Rarely do they mean anything. Society has dumped them on the outskirts of our cities to stay away from our green pastures, an entire group fallen through the cracks and forgotten.

I find it hard to write this. I always get so angry and I always sound so prophetic. I guess the point is simple, I hate how what our society has become and how it treats those less fortunate, here and around the world. I hate how people curse poor people for being poor. Sometimes it's their fault, great, but does that allow us to turn them into something other than a person. Is simple dignity too much to ask for? Some people have so much money in this world that giving some away for another to live comfortably isn't a hard thing to do. If I ever make more than I need, I won't keep it. I refuse to keep it.

I'm so privileged, and I have a loving family and I can live day to day without worrying about basic necessities. But there are 6.7 billion people in this world and only 20% of humanity lives on more than $10 a day. Shouldn't we worry about that. The "greatest" country in the world should be able to give a little bit more money to those in need instead of spending half a trillion every year at the defense department (that's a conservative amount). That amount of money can feed everyone in the world one meal 74 times. I don't know, but with all this money (U.S. 2008 GDP of $14 trillion) and hence all this power shouldn't we be using it for those who need it.

I think people become journalists for one of two reasons. Either they enjoy reporting and writing and are super curious, or they want to save the world.

I want to save the world.