Almost one billion people worldwide suffer from hunger-related issues. (146 million of those are children - 10.9 million under the age of five will die this year because they do not have enough to eat.) 98% of these people are in developing countries, with 65% in just seven countries. There are more starving people across the world than there are in all of the USA & Canada, and the EU. Every day 25,000 children die of hunger...that's 15 infant deaths per minute. Hunger is the world's no.1 health risk, and tonight one in seven of the world's population will go to sleep hungry.
Forgive me therefore, if I do not blog about empty platitudes and sentiment, mourning the demise of someone whom I knew just as well as each and every one of these starving people. I simply cannot find it in my heart to jump on this particular bandwagon... not when 1 billion people's suffering is considered less worthy of mention and consideration than the premature death of someone who knowingly destroyed her life*.
But here's a thought - instead of rushing to buy the inevitable greatest hits album (with 'previously unreleased tracks'), which will no doubt be pimped by iTunes within the next week or so, so that people can prove just how much of a fan they are, how about donating that money to The World Food Programme, Poverty Action, or any other charity which is fighting to save all these people?
The cost of one iTunes album could probably feed one person in the developing world for over a week!
Forgive me therefore, if I do not blog about empty platitudes and sentiment, mourning the demise of someone whom I knew just as well as each and every one of these starving people. I simply cannot find it in my heart to jump on this particular bandwagon... not when 1 billion people's suffering is considered less worthy of mention and consideration than the premature death of someone who knowingly destroyed her life*.
But here's a thought - instead of rushing to buy the inevitable greatest hits album (with 'previously unreleased tracks'), which will no doubt be pimped by iTunes within the next week or so, so that people can prove just how much of a fan they are, how about donating that money to The World Food Programme, Poverty Action, or any other charity which is fighting to save all these people?
The cost of one iTunes album could probably feed one person in the developing world for over a week!
~~~
*It's not that I don't have any sympathy for Whitney Houston's demise, of course I do - it's an utterly tragic waste of life. However, regardless of whether her death was immediately related to her substance abuse, there is undoubtedly going to be a link. From the minute she was born, she led a privileged life...a life which she chose to destroy. One billion starving people have absolutely no choice. What is truly heartbreaking is that for the majority of the world's population, every moment of life is the most precious gift, yet in our so-called developed western society there are those who choose to throw it away.
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