God Bless America/God Bless the West
December 1st, 2008 by Brad HeapFrom Jesus Wants To Save Christians by Rob Bell
America controls nearly 20 percent of the world’s wealth. There are around six billion people in the world, and there are roughly three hundred million people in the US. That makes America less than 5 percent of the world’s population. And this 5 percent owns a fifth of the world’s wealth.
One billion people in the world do not have access to clean water, while the average American uses four hundred to six hundred litres of water a day.
Every seven seconds, somewhere in the world a child under the age of five dies of hunger, while Americans throw away 14 percent of the food they purchase.
Nearly one billion people in the world live on less than one American dollar a day.
Another 2.5 billion people in the world live on less than two American dollars a day.
More than half of the world lives on less than two dollars a day, while the average American teenager spends nearly $150 a week.
Forty percent of people in the world lack basic sanitation, while forty-nine million diapers are used and thrown away in America every day.
One point six billion people in the world have no electricity.
Nearly one billion people in the world cannot read or sign their name.
Nearly one hundred million children are denied basic education.
By far, most of the people in the world do not own a car.
One-third of American families own three cars.
One in seven children worldwide (158 million) have to go to work every day just to survive.
Four out of five American adults are high school graduates.
Americans spend more annually on trash bags than nearly half of the world does on all goods.
…
Human history has never witnessed the abundance that we consider normal. America is the wealthiest nation in the history of humanity. We have more resources than anyone group of people anywhere at any time has ever had. Ever.
God bless America?
God has.
Kind of puts things into perspective a little doesn’t it?
We claim we have no money.
Yet we can go on our yearly tours around the world. Visiting countries because we are young and we can. Giving to the poor, to World Vision, Oxfarm, Unicef off our profits not out of love. We give as little as we can to offset our guilt.
We rob the poor countries of their natural resources, send their children to sweat shops to make shoes for us. Then give to World Vision to set them free. It is just wrong. And sick.
How about God bless the East. God bless the poor. The real poor. The real needy. And may God teach us how to be better citizens of the world, removing our guilt and opening our eyes to our selfish ways.
