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Second Place Mountains Beyond Mountains Essay Winner

Essay by Alex Lawson

    It would be nice if everyone in the world was Paul Farmer. Humanity would be intelligent, generous, and extremely motivated. Unfortunately the world is not perfect and humanity is not made of Paul Farmers. That is why the well-worn expression “think global, act local” is of paramount importance; even the common person can make a difference in the world, even if it’s only the world of one person.

      From Beijing to Moscow to Rotterdam to Syracuse, poverty is a problem in every city in the world and poverty breeds hunger. Unfortunately, hunger is not something most Americans can identify with. The constant availability of fat concentrated foods and an enormous wealth of carbohydrates for cheap keeps most of the population well fed and content to shove any disturbing problems related to hunger under the rug. The vast majority of the populace has never experienced true hunger and doesn’t understand its reality so very few are prone to offer any kind of solution. To make matters worse, those that have experienced hunger are disenfranchised and in absolutely no position to affect a change themselves. The result is a culture of apathy and compliant ignorance. The homeless live in squalor under bridges and get by on cheap wine and hope while the middle class scrapes enough money to amass massive debts to buy unnecessary luxuries such as motorboats. Couldn’t that paycheck be spent better somewhere else?

      Going back to thinking globally and acting locally, the key is not to view the dauntless task of relieving world hunger and being dismayed; it is to give one man the change from buying that six inch sub and seeing the look of genuine gratitude on his face. It is setting aside a proper tithe to let faith based organizations do as they have for generations and provide food and services for those in need. It is not cheating on income tax and depriving social welfare programs of valuable resources for personal gain. Giving up an extra five dollars may only relieve one millionth of a percent of the hunger in the Earth, but it will relieve one hundred percent of the hunger in one person’s life, for a time. That is a difference, and it’s one that anyone of any means can make.

      Starvation and poverty plague society. A casual drive to the see a baseball game at Alliance Bank Stadium is alarmingly punctuated by men standing along the road with signs asking for money from passing unseeing cars. It would be near impossible for any one person to fill the aching stomachs of every poor life in the world, but one person can help to fill the stomach of the man on the side of the street. 

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