Real Life Poverty in America - Essay Example

Essay Question No.2: Do you have an obligation to help others in distress? Introduction: My neighbour is starving and I have a moral obligation to alleviate her suffering and therefore I also have an extended obligation to help any person who is starving, if it is within my capacity to do so. Every person born into this world irrespective of the sex, class and creed has only one thing to accept i.e; death. Before reaching the stage of death, they can have a positive impact on the lives of other people by providing a helping hand to those in need. The theory is not only applicable to individuals but also to wealthier nations who have an obligation of helping the needy. Am I obligated to help someone? Peter Singer has described in ‘Writings on Ethical Life’ that the standard of morality has to be understood by every individual as a plant growing and searching for its own sunlight to survive. The world has many people who are suffering from lack of food, shelter and medical care. If it is in our power to prevent or reduce the suffering of others without sacrificing our morality, then it is our moral value to do it. It is just like seeing a child who does not know swimming and is drowning in a shallow pond, we should not think of anything else but extending help to the child at that point of time. By giving or extending help, the life of the child will be saved and the only damage may be a set of wet clothes. It is very easy to see the parallel between action and inaction. Hitler had a weird way of making people to support him, to kill all those who opposed him. That should not be the motive of every individual or society in making sure that everyone helps the needy. But the urgency of helping someone who is in real danger should be there. If we are seeing a person getting a electric shock from a false system and if we are close we should turn off the fuse to help that person. If the same situation took place a long distance away, we are not morally obligated too much as in the first stage. The situation of moral obligation does change the moment hunger is introduced. A famine or natural calamity that has occurred in a different region or country necessitates a strong moral obligation to help. The same feeling to help remains strong when we try to help our neighbors. The amount which we can spare to help may be an issue but extending help is not only by money. We can volunteer some work for our neighbor and for fellow beings kilometers away, we can volunteer for charity work if we do not have any amount to spare. There are certain obligations that lead to more basic obligations. When we are granted citizenship by birth, the obligation expected from us or everyone is to be fair, responsible to society. That principle is applicable to educators or schools all over the world. As in America, California Education Code Section 233.5(a) lays the groundwork and calls upon educators to impress upon students the principles of character: "Each teacher shall endeavor to impress upon the minds of the pupils the principles of morality, truth, justice, patriotism, and a true comprehension of the rights, duties, and dignity of American citizenship, and the meaning of equality and human dignity, including the promotion of harmonious relations, kindness toward domestic pets and the humane treatment of living creatures, to teach them to avoid idleness, profanity, and falsehood, and to instruct them in manners and morals and the principles of a free government. Each teacher is also encouraged to create and foster an environment that encourages pupils to realize their full potential and that is free from discriminatory attitudes, practices, events, or activities, in order to prevent acts of hate violence…" Share What You Can 1.2 billion People live in absolute poverty “ a condition of life so characterized by malnutrition, illiteracy, disease, poor surroundings, high infant mortality and low life expectancy as to be beneath any responsibly definition of human decency” (Robert McNamara, World Bank) “Six million children and even more adults-die unnecessarily every year. Good people all over the world are doing their best to save them. You can too” (Time Magazine,Nov.7,2005) Once our basic needs are met, it becomes morally obligatory for us to leave something for the needy. The amount that has been ear marked for luxury can be changed to meet the needs of persons in need. The use of geography to determine the acts of charity should be stopped once and for all. The real reason for this no person in the planet Earth has the power to determine the place of birth. That means a person living in distant Sri Lanka has every right of being helped just like our neighbor in America or in Australia. It is a fact that every step forward should be taken to create a tolerant world and narrow views of politics should not put blind covers on it. Honesty and selflessness are the two traits that can be shared by everyone irrespective of whether they believe in morality or not. To give up your time and energy to help improve the lives of others is one of the most commendable acts a person can participate in. The world and media is always highlighting the lives of persons living life on the fast lane and it is easy to be lured into as sense of fantasy. That you cannot share what you do not have is a wrong conception. If you do not have money to spend on charity, then you might be feeling that you cannot or need not help which is wrong. You can extend help by spreading the message of people in distress which can make others help. The powerful concept of being responsible to the world should be driven home .The concept of helping animals also falls into this concept of charity. The act of trying to save Panda should not be forgotten. Panda was an animal confined to China and the animal lovers all over the world has extended supported in keeping the project panda alive. (Peter Singer”, “Animal Liberation”). People all over the world were willing to help and understand the problems caused by melting down of ice in Greenland. The environmental issues are shared by everyone in the world because they understand a problem in one part of the world will affect the other parts. The same principle of Animal and Environment has to be taken forward in case of human beings. There is no place in this earth which is safe of poverty and every human being should extend the hand sideways to alleviate the pain.(Grant, “Central Station”). Action vs. Inaction For the past 19 years, Cuba has been providing free health treatment to around 24,000 child victims of the Chernobyl explosion. The question of whether causing harm is just as morally wrong as not preventing the same harm from occurring has to be addressed in more detail. It is understood that one cannot spend all money on charity and it is understood that one cannot run away from the responsibility of not harming others even when we cannot help others. All people may not be sharing the same amount of morality but normally almost all the people will be agreeing to the fact that it is better not to harm others. Preventing harm to others should not be left to the government in power. (William Aiken”World, hunger and morality”) The theory of morality starts from family and school and the individual will take forward the values based on his perception as they grow up. Childhood all over the world is to be enjoyed with friends and have fun times with the security of the family. That is not the case with every child. In the past 20 years, around the globe, children under 16 have fought in at least 16 wars in 25 countries. In the last decade alone, war has consumed more than 2 million lives of children, rendered 5 million with permanent disabilities, and forced five million to refugee camps, left more than 12 million homeless. The war has been breaking around in all places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, South America and Mozambique. Children have been seen going into a deep state of withdrawal and depression. People all over the world should consider it as amoral obligation to help the children all over the world to develop into psychologically healthy adults, so they are capable of ending the cycles of hatred that spread bloodshed across the globe and across generations. (Peter Unger “Living high and letting die”) Whenever I am not spending my time helping someone in more need, I am committing an immoral act. That was not seen when buildings across the world plunged into darkness to support Earth hour 2009.That shows the spirit of the world to a cause to tackle climatic change. The sprit should not be confined to areas of energy savings but should urge the respective governments to tackle the act of war that is going around the world. The issue of making sure that the charity should be going to the right hands should be also met. People having money should not be willing to give money to charity and stay back thinking that the money has reached the safe hands. They should be willing to take more responsible acts of charity. The acts should be voluntarily rather than an act of force or desperation. It is better to know more about the things happening around the world than knowing only things happening in our neighborhood. Yes our neighbor may be of our color, caste or creed but every person in this world are human beings just like our neighbor. Summary It does not matter the place we reside in. What matters is the willingness to help others. Honesty and Selflessness are the traits that have to be developed in every individual and children. It is a moral obligation to help others in whatever we can and it is immoral not to do it. Helping others should not be left solely to the power of government . The practice of geography determining the acts of charity should be stopped once and for all. Bibliography William Julius Wilson, The Truly Disadvantaged (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988); Ethics, Vol. 101, No. 3 (April, 1991), pp. 560-609, Phoebe H. Cottingham and David T. Ellwood, eds., Welfare Policy for the 1990's (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989); William P. O'Hare, Real Life Poverty in America: Where the American Public Would Set the Poverty Line (Washington, DC: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 1990); Robert Rector, "Try the Difference Values Can Make; How Public Welfare Assistance Has Contributed to the Demise of Social, Moral, and Family Values”; R. Shep Melnick, Between the Lines: Interpreting Welfare Rights (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1994); Irene Glasser, More Than Bread: Ethnography of a Soup Kitchen (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1988); Elliot Liebow, Tell Them Who I Am: The Lives of Homeless Women (New York: Free Press, 1993); Paul E. Zoph, Jr., American Women in Poverty (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1989); Gary Orfield and Carol Ashkinaze, The Closing Door: Conservative Policy and Black Opportunity (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991); Read More

The situation of moral obligation does change the moment hunger is introduced. A famine or natural calamity that has occurred in a different region or country necessitates a strong moral obligation to help. The same feeling to help remains strong when we try to help our neighbors. The amount which we can spare to help may be an issue but extending help is not only by money. We can volunteer some work for our neighbor and for fellow beings kilometers away, we can volunteer for charity work if we do not have any amount to spare.

There are certain obligations that lead to more basic obligations. When we are granted citizenship by birth, the obligation expected from us or everyone is to be fair, responsible to society. That principle is applicable to educators or schools all over the world. As in America, California Education Code Section 233.5(a) lays the groundwork and calls upon educators to impress upon students the principles of character: "Each teacher shall endeavor to impress upon the minds of the pupils the principles of morality, truth, justice, patriotism, and a true comprehension of the rights, duties, and dignity of American citizenship, and the meaning of equality and human dignity, including the promotion of harmonious relations, kindness toward domestic pets and the humane treatment of living creatures, to teach them to avoid idleness, profanity, and falsehood, and to instruct them in manners and morals and the principles of a free government.

Each teacher is also encouraged to create and foster an environment that encourages pupils to realize their full potential and that is free from discriminatory attitudes, practices, events, or activities, in order to prevent acts of hate violence…" Share What You Can 1.2 billion People live in absolute poverty “ a condition of life so characterized by malnutrition, illiteracy, disease, poor surroundings, high infant mortality and low life expectancy as to be beneath any responsibly definition of human decency” (Robert McNamara, World Bank) “Six million children and even more adults-die unnecessarily every year.

Good people all over the world are doing their best to save them. You can too” (Time Magazine,Nov.7,2005) Once our basic needs are met, it becomes morally obligatory for us to leave something for the needy. The amount that has been ear marked for luxury can be changed to meet the needs of persons in need. The use of geography to determine the acts of charity should be stopped once and for all. The real reason for this no person in the planet Earth has the power to determine the place of birth.

That means a person living in distant Sri Lanka has every right of being helped just like our neighbor in America or in Australia. It is a fact that every step forward should be taken to create a tolerant world and narrow views of politics should not put blind covers on it. Honesty and selflessness are the two traits that can be shared by everyone irrespective of whether they believe in morality or not. To give up your time and energy to help improve the lives of others is one of the most commendable acts a person can participate in.

The world and media is always highlighting the lives of persons living life on the fast lane and it is easy to be lured into as sense of fantasy. That you cannot share what you do not have is a wrong conception. If you do not have money to spend on charity, then you might be feeling that you cannot or need not help which is wrong. You can extend help by spreading the message of people in distress which can make others help. The powerful concept of being responsible to the world should be driven home .

The concept of helping animals also falls into this concept of charity. The act of trying to save Panda should not be forgotten. Panda was an animal confined to China and the animal lovers all over the world has extended supported in keeping the project panda alive. (Peter Singer”, “Animal Liberation”). People all over the world were willing to help and understand the problems caused by melting down of ice in Greenland.

Read More