For every grade, I’ve been taught the same lesson in a variety of ways: if you hurt someone, you do irreparable damage onto them. A lesson that is hammered into children repeatedly is bound to leave a mark, and it did for me. Hurting people is wrong, and I should empathise with people who are less fortunate than me. A lack of food and shelter is violence towards people with no such access; it’s just a type of violence that’s less direct than the kind we’re used to seeing. And considering that billionaires have enough money “to end extreme poverty seven times over” (Hagan), it’s hard to see people who have the power to help but not take action as sympathetic; the philosophy that these people have that keeps them from eradicating poverty goes against every bit of my philosophy that I have built with lessons I’ve absorbed from school and gained from personal experiences.
Hagan, Shelly. “Study: Billionaires Could End Extreme Poverty 7 Times Over | Money.” Time, Time, 22 Jan. 2018, time.com/money/5112462/billionaires-made-so-much-money-last-year-they-could-end-extreme-poverty-seven-times/.
