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Hearts & Minds - Information for ChangeSM
Hearts
& Minds Blog
Personal thoughts on Hearts & Minds,
our growing End Poverty CampaignSM
and how to change the world
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Monday, March 30, 2009
An
Empowering Way to See Poverty
In the Dark
I used to walk around with blinders on.
I knew poverty existed, but I didn’t
let myself fully see it. To me, it was a problem that existed in the
mythical “Over There,” a faraway place that I would only see on
infomercials. And it happened to others who I recognized as people, but
not as neighbors.
Like many others, I continued to let
global poverty grind on as a silent annihilation, killing more than 10
million people a year without so much as raising an eyebrow.
Closer to
home
More than 27,000 innocent people die every day from hunger
related causes. That's more than nine times then number murdered on
9/11, though that smaller number did really upset me.
It's only human to be more disturbed
by things closer to home.
New thinking
It wasn’t until our economy started to falter that I began to
think differently. As the big FOR RENT signs began being on more and
more stores and houses, I wondered how things got so bad. Watching the
news, it became clear that our financial troubles have gone
international.
That’s when it hit me:
If we are doing so badly now, how are the people
who were already suffering during the boom times? It’s a question I
don’t think many people are asking themselves, and this creates a very
dangerous situation. If we become so consumed by our own worries, we’ll
forget about those who are hit even harder.
Seeing the Light
I know from personal experience that poverty is not just about physical
lack, like no food or no electricity. Poverty is also a state of mind.
It’s a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness, a feeling of being
devalued. The common view of poor people as lazy can contribute to this
negative feeling.
Handouts do not alleviate these feelings. Only
when people are allowed to take some control over their lives can they
really make something of it.
Empowerment
That’s why I support the End Poverty Campaign as a Hearts &
Mind volunteer, because it offers that control. Why continue to throw
funds at organizations and bureaucracies that don’t work? Our campaign
supports a common sense approach that seeks ways to directly fund the
world's poorest to lift themselves from poverty. We work to give them
the power to choose the programs that they want and need.
Hearts & Minds is helping me in the same way. As a
volunteer, I get to be a proud, active member in the End Poverty
Campaign, while acquiring skills and training that will serve me in the
working world well beyond my time here.
An independent
achievement you can share
Helping people help themselves is the best way to ensure
long-lasting and independent achievement.
And here's how you can can help:
Help
End
Global Hunger and
Poverty
Join us today! Together, we
can change the world.
Comments and Questions: greatchange@gmail.com
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by Kammi Washington,
Hearts & Minds volunteer
Copyrights:
Website © 1997 - 2010 by Hearts and Minds Network, Inc. This
entry © 2009 by Bill Blackman at http://www.heartsandminds.org/blog/index.htm -
blog started September
28, 2006, this entry online March 30, 2009, latest changes March 30, 2009
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