32,000 Children Die Every Day in the World

A few years ago I was walking with my dog on one of the many forest trails in this area, when we crossed paths with a man I knew only by sight.  He was a distant neighbor.  Since we were going in the same direction we fell into step and engaged in small talk about the weather and recent news events.  When it became obvious we had somewhat similar views about the world I said I was upset that reliable sources estimate 32,000 children die every day in the world, from hunger and hunger-related diseases when there is enough food to feed them.  He replied, “Oh, I don’t want to think about that, it upsets me too much.”   I did not know what to say, so I said nothing.  About that time our paths diverged, he went one way; I went another, on my way home.  The man’s words disturbed me, but I did not know why.  By the time I got home, 15 minutes later, I knew why.

The Western World has an insatiable appetite for resources, income and wealth.  We are sucking all three from the Lesser Developed World where most of the 32,000 children die every day.  Thirty-two thousand children a day for one year is 11.68 million children a year.  That is more dead children than the combatant and non-combatant deaths per year during the Second World War.  We are now waging war on the children of the world.  Our political and economic leaders in the Western World value their positions of power and their wealth more than they value the lives of innocent, defenseless children.   To value political power and wealth more than the lives of innocent children are unmistakable signs of psychopathy.  Our leaders are psychopaths.  We elect psychopathic political leaders and tolerate psychopathic economic leaders.

Had I had a quicker mind and been more forthright and insensitive to my neighbor’s feelings, I would have said something like this to him:

If you don’t want to think about starving children now, when will you be willing to think about them?  Will you wait until they are white children starving to death, or will you wait until they are Canadian children, or B.C. children, or Powell River children, or your neighbor’s children?  Or, will you wait until they are your own children and grandchildren?  If you do not begin thinking about hungry children soon, make no mistake about it, our leaders will eventually steal food from the mouths of your family’s children because they are psychopaths who care nothing about children, probably not even their own.  Make no mistake about it, these people are psychopaths, their greed is insatiable, they want EVERYTHING.  When your children have died from hunger they will start taking the food from your mouth.  They will tell you it is for your own good, or nothing can be done to prevent your hunger, or that it is your fault that you are hungry and dying.  They will tell you this when there is enough food to feed everyone.

He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust. – Aquinas.

HOPE has two children. The first is ANGER at the way things are. The second is COURAGE to DO SOMETHING about it. – St. Augustine.

The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: “Anyone of you who sees wrong, let him undo it with his hand; and if he cannot, then let him speak against it with his tongue, and if he cannot do this either, then (let him abhor it) with his heart, and this is the least of faith.”

Harvey Lothian is a 79-year-old man living on the Sunshine Coast of BC, Canada. His passions since a teenager have been history, politics, economics, sociology, social psychology, learning, traveling and reading. In recent years he has come to understand what Plato meant when he said all dogs have the soul of a philosopher. He can be reached platosdog7782@gmail.com. Read other articles by Harvey.