"A man is called selfish, not for pursuing his own good, but for neglecting his neighbor's."
- Richard Whately (1787-1863), English writer and social reformer
Several weeks ago I wrote about World AIDS Day. I was reminded of much I said in that post when I caught the end of the Oprah Show today. Oprah's trip to deliver presents to 50,000 children in South Africa last Christmas was aired, with her expressed objective being to help these youngsters forget their troubles for a little while. From what I saw, she was successful. The joy they expressed as they opened their gifts, played games, and got warm hugs from Oprah and her entourage of volunteers was heart-warming. I got choked up and couldn't help thinking how short-lived their joy would be, for this was just one day in each of their lives.
I do not believe that we here in the U.S. are really aware of the devastation this plague is causing in the world. Three million people are dying every year and thousands of children are being orphaned, many with no one to take care of them. They're left to fend for themselves in whatever way they can. While our government has promised significant help in fighting this disease, it won't be enough. The problem is simply too huge. Oprah is one of the people who is stepping up to this challenge. I think we should help her.
She has established a charitable foundation called Oprah's Angel Network which will have as one of its main goals addressing the tragedy that AIDS is causing throughout the world. She promises the money will be spent to make a difference in someone's life. I believe her. Why not take some of the money you were going to spend on yourself this Christmas and drop it in the mail for these kids?
3 comments:
Thanks for your entries on this subject. We can't push this problem aside. These poor people need our help. To the people who say "let's worry about America's problems first", I say there will be thousands of orphaned teens who have had no love or education just waiting for someone to come along and form another terrorist group to hate America. For me the innocent children is enough.
Oops! Someone may have noticed this entry should have appeared under the December 22 date, not the 21st (Oprah's not on Sunday's). I've been having problem with the edit features in my Journal, had made some test entries, and inadvertently put the Oprah entry into one of the test entries, if that makes sense. I was too tired to delete it and put it in its proper place. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.
Great idea! It is so easy to forget the people we never see. The only way we can win the war on terror is to reach out to struggling people everywhere. If we reach out with kindness and care, maybe they won't be ready to pick up explosives against us.
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