i want to live bigger. there are so many needs in the world, so many things worth fighting for. i was reading about aids, hunger and free trade yesterday and it got me thinking about things...
FAIR TRADE:
Fair Trade is "an alternative approach to conventional international trade. It is a partnership aimed at obtaining sustainable development for excluded and disadvantaged producers through provision of better trading conditions. By creating direct relationships between producers and buyers, producers can get a better price and buyers are guaranteed a high-quality product. By eliminating the middlemen and exploitative buyers, Fair Trade guarantees a price, which allows for producers to cover the costs of production and sustain their family." -the revolution
this is what really made me think: "each purchase you make is a political statement. Think about the products you consume and consider the conditions under which they were grown or produced. Make a commitment to buy products that reflect your values." thats kind of an intense idea but in such a cool way, i know that i will only be held accountable for my actions but what statements am i making with out even knowing it? am i just settling for whats cheapest or am i buying products that go towards bettering the lives of others. the problem with this is that it seems like a lot of work, but thats lame of me to possibly be exploiting people because i'm too lazy to do the research to find out how the products i consume are made. i just want a website that tells me if my lucky charms are ok and what brand of t-shirts i should buy, things like that. i realize that its worth it to spend the extra money to ensure that people are given fair market wages. i would even go so far to say that its a spiritual issue.
HUNGER:
"one in ten U.S. households is living in hunger or at risk for hunger." i was a social welfare major, i know that poverty and hunger are issues in the US, i just didnt put it together that it was one in ten. that is a huge statistic, and obviously its not just in the US. "Hunger exists not because the world doesn't produce enough food-we have the experience and the technology right now to end the problem-but because it is not distributed equitably...Given the fact that humankind has the mean to end hunger, its persistence in God's world is a scandal" (the revolution). i realize that this is another problem that i am just throwing out there with no real solution but i feel like i must be able to help some how, i'm just not sure what it is yet. i was told i should check out the ONE campaign. i plan on it.
the chapter on HIV/AIDS was good as well but i pulled out this quote that i feel like is applicable to Free Trade and Hunger as well, just substitute where it says AIDS with either of those "Documentaries of the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, and American racial segregation have made me shake my head and say 'Never again. Not here. Not ever.' Now I wonder if future documentaries will report how AIDS ripped through our world and how most of the wealthiest and best educated failed to act." i would hate that.
i really want to save the world, but God hasnt given me the world. i just need to learn to be faithful with what He's given me, which i guess includes purchases i make and where i give money and if i give money. i plan on spending sometime doing some research on all this stuff today. i'll try to update tomorrow with my findings.