The Way and the Will to Change

Throughout the world, more than 22,000 children under the age of five die every day from preventable and curable diseases. This information is from the "Save the Children" organization, and the figures match those from other respected groups.

I share these numbers from time to time for those who have never heard them before and for those of us who have but sometimes forget. The key phrase above is "preventable and curable." These aren't complicated diseases. Many of these children could be saved with simple over-the-counter anti-diarrheal medication, for example. For an estimated $20 billion dollars, everyone could have access to clean drinking water and that would save most of the 1.5 million children who die each year from diarrhea even before they need medicine.

There are some who view the problems outside of our country as "not our problems." But for believers, poverty issues anywhere are our problem. Nevermind how the government is mismanaging resources, let's think about us, as individuals. I'm hearing Americans spent around $470 billion on Christmas this year. The amount of money we spend annually on things like candy, sodas and other junk food, not to mention big-ticket luxury items, is staggering. Clearly, it is not a lack of resources which is the problem. Misplaced priorities are the problem.

It is considered nearly unpatriotic to suggest we should not be doing our part to "spend our way out of recession," but if all of us would buy even one-fourth less of the things we don't really need and instead, contribute the money we save to reputable organizations who are addressing the needs of the poorest of the poor, we could fix poverty. It has been shown that money, used properly, changes the world for the better. The right kind of aid does help, because the good news is the number of children dying every day from preventable diseases is actually down in recent years because of proper use of resources. When people have clean water and are well-fed, they don't have to focus merely on day-to-day survival. They are able to be educated and productive.

I've mentioned these things before, but some things bear repeating. Jesus provided the Way. It is up to us to find the will to change the way the world works, and the beginning of a new year is the perfect time to start. We can do it.