If you have grown up and live in the West, there is certainly a lot to give thanks for. Just look at any statistic on living standards to reduce yourself to a position of humble gratitude, or not, depending on how you look at it. America is celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow and I think it fitting to give thanks that I grew up in the “west”.
I have a theory about the world and its development over the past 1000 years or so.
The minority of the World’s population lives in the colder Northern Hemisphere. The majority of the world’s population lives in the more pleasant climes of the tropics. Smart choice perhaps? Anyway, funny thing is, those Northerners are the part that we now refer to as developed!
Have you ever noticed when you get cold and miserable how fast you set about rectifying that situation? I think that this is mainly what has driven the development of the “Western” world. “Western” has always been a wrong description for the Developed world. So is “Developed World”. I think it should be stated for what it is. The Northern Hemisphere. Look at a satellite image of the world at night and you will see that this is the most accurate description.
Apparently we really are driven by need! And so I give thanks to my forefathers for not wanting to b e cold any longer and finding solutions to that hardship and a thousand others. If only you could see how we live now. IT would have made your kings look like paupers!
So what is going wrong? When I look at the tropics and Southern Hemisphere I certainly see some enormous human needs, very fundamental ones at that. For example the lack of drinking water, food, basic health and security. It seems like my simple theory may not be working out so well.
Why is it that there is so much misery in the world and yet we do not seem to be able to do much about it? Why are the people of the tropics and Southern Hemisphere not able to drag themselves out of poverty in a similar way to our forefathers who were also faced with adversity?
Has the skewed development of the world perhaps pushed these people past the tipping point of extinction and if so, do we not have a moral obligation to solve this problem?
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