One Earth, Two Worlds

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer; a saying we’ve all heard but it may hold more validity than we think. In the book Common Wealth Jeffrey Sachs addresses this issue with discussion of the economic growth and decline of several countries. Over the last few hundred years, prosperous countries such as the United Kingdom and America have continued to grow economically while economically weak countries such as sub-Saharan Africa have continued to suffer.

An article published in the mid 1990s in Green Left magazine addresses this issue. This article talks about America specifically and its economic situation. The global economic tendencies as described by Sachs are illustrated on a smaller scale when we take a look at America’s economy. America’s pre twenty-first century economy was on the rise. The reason attributed to this economic expansion was essentially the need of the lower-class citizens. The poor were willing to do any job, just in an effort to get by. Their minimum wage jobs provided the opportunity for the rich to prosper even more and although their work benefited the economy overall, the poor remained stuck in the same rut.

If we do not take care to fix this problem of economic dissonance between the rich and the poor, it won’t fix itself, it will just continue to become worse and worse. Now, looking at this issue from a global perspective gives us even a better picture of what is going on. It is not rare to see a commercial or stumble across a webside that tells us of how our five dollar donation a month can feed 20 starving children in Africa. When I take a moment to think about how significant my small donation is to people living in these underprivileged countries I realize how truly great the difference is in wealth. If this problem isn’t fixed I foresee two, separate worlds. There will be a world with food, money, education and life. And there will be a separate world filled with hunger, disease, and ultimately death. If we don’t take the time now to help our “neighbors” we will only become more and more separated from them until one day we won’t regard their existence at all. We are aware of the situation our world is in; my vote is that we make an effort to fix this—now.

-Phil Giddings