The Millennium Development Goals

I promised to blog on the MDGs today, with Episcopalians For Global Reconciliation.

I got a little burned out on activism and social justice in college, I'm afraid. I tend to get overwhelmed by extreme poverty and suffering; I shut down and get fatalistic about the dangers and limits of human finitude, and I find myself with little hope in what God and humans can do in the face of evil and death. Not good.

1.2 billion people on this earth live on less than $1 a day. Today, I bought a coffee and a cookie for $1.49. On Saturday, I went with a group of my church members to pack food for Feed My Starving Children, an organization that has developed a nutritious rice-soy blend that makes a meal for one person for 15 cents! They send this food mix all over the world, mostly to -- as you might guess -- starving children. I could have lunch every day for fifteen cents and still be a healthy, strong person!

I struggle with my everyday life -- ups and downs, financial strains, to do lists, the stress of ministry. But I live in a wonderful apartment. I drink clean water. I have had twenty years of formal education. I am a woman and I am not a doormat. I don't go hungry. If Adam and I have children, chances are our babies will live to be older than five years old. AIDS hasn't decimated the community I live in.

I could just sit back and feel lucky. But I think it is my responsibility to provide for my brothers and sisters in need in this world -- "whatever you do for the least of my brothers," Jesus said, "you do for me." What is this privileged life we lead worth if we do not share what we have?

Although it is a process. I wish I could feel as good about spending $50 or $100 on a hunger organization as I do on a pair of shoes, for instance. Anyway, these are the UN's Millennium Development Goals. Find a charity that makes a difference and give them some money. You'll feel good. It will actually make a difference. Maybe build a relationship with this charity, support them over time, and get emotionally involved. And you'll prove that humans are as capable of love and good, as they are of evil and destruction.

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development