Don’t ask: “Why does God allow this to happen?”
Pray: “God… give me the wisdom and strength to do what I must to stop this from happening?”
“Poverty is the worst form of violence.” Mahatma Gandhi
21 Thursday Feb 2008
Posted in Activism, Africa, African-Americans, AfroSphere, Blogging, Caribbean, Christianity, Education, Genocide, Geopolitics, God, Holocaust, Imperialism, Islam, Politics, Racism, Religion
Seeing all the violence in the news, I would say to my husband, “poverty is the reason for all the violence. Ghandi was on point with his philosophies.
very sad how just like a piece of fruit it can be so very sweet yet the same fruit can be just as sour is it can be sweet
seems life goes the same way it can be just as bad as it is amazing
worst part is we think its bad this kid had no choice nor chance!
…makes my heart cry…
yes, i also think that elimination of poverty is the solution for violence. thanks for the words of advice
Yes, very true but that still leaves violence through religion.
Man has lost his humanity, if he really had it. The world truly needs to change. I am heart broken at this picture.
Wow, this image is scarily haunting!
“Poverty is the worst form of violence.”
Considering that poverty (certainly as compared to modern standards) has been the norm for humanity across the world throughout history, I think it’s safe to say that the victims of “the worst form of violence”, throughout time, would prefer to exist in poverty rather than be conquered, enslaved or exterminated from the the face of the Earth.
Because Ghandi uttered that twee soundbite it’s supposed to be profound? GET REAL! Here’s a couple more soundbites from the man you so revere.
When imprisoned in South Africa- “Many of the native prisoners are only one degree removed from the animal”
and on Africans- “raw kaffir, whose occupation is hunting and whose sole ambition is to collect a certain number of cattle to buy a wife with, and then pass his life in indolence and nakedness”.
Don’t ask- “Why does God allow this to happen?”
Why not ask that question? Is it because you daydreamers are scared of the true answer?
“Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. If God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?”- Epicurius.
Now, put aside your pride, your vanity and your ego, and look at this child again. If you can honestly pray to a god without asking “why do you allow this to happen?”, then you do not truly care about this child’s plight.
Pray: “God… give me the wisdom and strength to do what I must to stop this from happening?”
Our wisdom and strength come from within our selves, and becomes manifest in our actions. The sooner we realise this and stop ascribing the source of our abilities, and the course of our future lives, to some non-existant supernatural being, the sooner we’ll be able to reach our true potential.
p.s. Apparently the photographer who took this photograph commited suicide out of the guilt of not having done something to save this child.
I would agree wit birdleg, I m doin a paper on poverty in India n i just realised that its what we do about it is what matters and not how bad we feel about it.
I mean for god sake’s this picture will make even a devil’s heart cry but the reason behind the cause and things that could be done for it ar important.
Its the same for all major country’s whether developed or developing, all suffer from some sort of poverty.
The major reason behind poverty in a developing natiion is the lack of resources, lack of government help, financial constraints n many other factors like africa, whereas in country’s like India which are developing, is that today due to great amount of technological development only the educated has been benefited, more like the richer are getting richer, whereas the poor are just going down. On the other hand developed countrys like Canada, the poverty here is the same kind as it is in India, among the natives, people who actually belonged to Canada and were totally forgotten about after the country developed.
What bothers me now, is that proabably thats where India is heading. I mean thats the kind of problem we would end up with to, where the richer and educated will be far ahead then their illeterate counterparts, which isn’t fair. I mean now that we can actualy see it happening, I think we should do something about it. I wish there was a way the people who are handling are current stat of affairs realise and think about the problems we will face in the future, I mean i can actualy see what lies ahead of us. I will do everything i possibly can.
Thats sorta my moto in life..I have a way, i need to work on.
To “birdlegs”:
You cynicism is outstanding! Far beyond any other socially resentful person might spew.
It’s not necessarily that Poverty is worse than being a POW or enslaved, but it is the most prevalent and effective in the world we live in. Poverty brings upon the violence that exists today.
The developing countries of today are not poor because they chose to be that way but because other, richer nations chose that fate for them. The clothing that you are wearing, the computer you are typing on, the phone that you are constantly using are all cheap products because of third world labor. The British were not the only people to think they could make money off of poverty–most modern day corporations feel the same way. Poverty is so profitable that people are willing to spend to keep others in poverty, like the British did when they were colonizing India.
OK you guys I will explain it to you because you seem a bit confused about the meaning of: “Poverty is the worst form of violence.”
Although it is true that poverty, real or perceived, leads to violence, it’s not what “Poverty is the worst form of violence.” means.
Poverty is something that is done to people in need by people who can, but do not, share.
I would say that’s pretty violent.
The most common reason for not sharing is that we have not enough paper with numbers printed on them.
I agree with the above post . It is the actions and policies that contribute to poverty which are violent. One of the causes of poverty is injustice, which is another form of violence.