Some thoughts to ponder

I read the following on a blog (http://www.livesayhaiti.blogspot.com/) today and it got me thinking...

"What if "prosperous" was defined less by our own personal economic well being and ranking and more by our ability to care for others. If giving was the standard for prosperity, how would I fare?"

Just imagine how different the world would be if prosperity was indeed measured by serving others. Wow.

Time spent in Guatemala is opening my eyes to poverty and its impact on people. I still have so much more to learn. During each trip to Guatemala I really try to "drink it all in". Truthfully there are times when I have to remind myself that I am not on a movie set. I am smack dab in the midst of reality - and it can be very ugly. One definite lesson I have learned is that poverty strips people of the opportunity to make choices.

I challenge you to read the words below from Compassionart's website. Think about them. Join me in pondering how this information impacts us as individuals. Wouldn't it be great to challenge the world to define prosperity as caring for/serving others and observe the effect on poverty?

Bits and pieces from http://www.compassionart.tv/:

"What is Poverty?

Extreme Poverty
Right now – today, as you read this – there are people dying because they do not have enough money to survive.

According to the United Nations there are roughly 1 billion people worldwide living – and dying – on less than $1 per day. It is this level of poverty that makes simple, treatable diseases like diarrhea into a lethal killer. Floods, droughts, unclean drinking water and a lack of food become nightmare figures in a life and death struggle.

One in three of the world's population live on less than $2 per day. This is poverty too. Schooling and access to medical treatment are too expensive for many of these people, increasing their vulnerability to sex traffickers and employers that exploit their desperate workers.

Lack Of Choice
Everyone who faces extreme poverty also lacks the choices that we take for granted, yet not everyone who has limited choices lives in extreme poverty.

The truth is that poverty of choice touches even more than 2 billion of us. When choice and options are limited, lives are held back and hope is far harder to find.

Why Fight Poverty?

Isn't poverty one of those things that will always be around? Or isn't this something that's best left to world leaders and kind-hearted charity workers?

This time the answer's simple; we fight poverty because it is there and because its presence brings shame on us all. Today, poverty should not exist, but it does. Why? Greed. But that's nowhere near being an excuse for doing nothing about it."



If we were trapped in a world of poverty wouldn't we, shouldn't we, HOPE that someone cared enough to extend a helping hand? Offering hope - it can be a powerful tool.

Wishing you a "prosperous" 2009. :)