Rich

Between 2003 and early 2008 the cost or rice, a staple food for billions worldwide has doubled. With an American worldview one might think that even with the doubling of the price that rice is still an inexpensive grain. But if you take it out of the 'rich American' perspective this makes for a global hunger crisis. In early 2008 Economists reported that 2.6 billion people live on $2 a day or less. They spend approximately 50 percent of their income on food. Thus a person living on $2 a day spends $1 a day on food. When food prices go up by 100 percent, s/he must spend $2.00 a day on food or purchase less food. The result is s/he purchases less food, leading to increased hunger, and has much less left over for other necessities such as housing.

My time in Thailand earlier this year gave me an opportunity to see what abject poverty really looks like. During our time in the Northern mountains of Thailand we visited refugee camps where people had fled Burma (now called Myanmar) with only the clothes on their backs and after a period of time in Thailand still only owned those clothes. In Pattaya we also experienced women and children begging in the streets. This was all a huge reality check about just how much 'stuff' we have in America. Some of us have so much 'stuff' that we have rental units outside of our home just to hold the overflow. In fact the business of storing 'stuff' is a huge industry in America.

Rob Bell states in his NOOMA video "Rich" that the money that Americans spend on ice cream in one year equals the amount of money that it would take to provide clean drinking water to THE REST OF THE WORLD that has that need! Ponder that. We ARE rich.