It is not!  Most of the world, about 80%, lives in abject poverty, even though they may not be in the midst of the wars and genocides of the isolated places like Darfur they still lack virtually every convenience I take for granted; including basic safety.  They lack virtually all the basic freedoms the UN has declared to be the right of every living person.

Today in our world the average quarterly profits of one bank may exceed the monthly income of a billion people.  The wealth of the worlds richest man could pay the wages of a country like China or India for over a month leaving him with pocket change to live comfortably for the remainder of his life.

When Jesus said there would always be the poor and the suffering, somehow I do not believe he was referring to eighty percent of the world’s population.  In a world of religions that believe in life values how is it that we can so fiercely protect our national, personal and corporate wealth while starving people need loans of as little as a couple dollars to turn their lives around. 

My purpose here is not to accuse any of us of greed or thoughtlessness.  My purpose is to keep the actual state of our world in our consciousness because I recognize the first step of change whether on a personal or global level is to be honest about the challenges we face.

There is more than enough love and generosity to bring balance to this world. All any of us need do is simply act with integrity.  Even the least of us in this part of the world has so very much.  We have the freedom to give of ourselves with our time and our skills, we have the freedom to give money and many other forms of wealth and we have the ability to use our money in morally responsible ways.  Simply by truly acting in integrity with our recognition of the needs of all people locally and globally we do and are making a supreme difference.  The only real need is that we act and act visibly; if we are doing something to make a difference be proud, speak out and raise awareness.