The simple answer: Poverty

Recently while filling out an application for a scholarship for a global volunteering program, I came across the question " If you could remove one thing from the world, what would that be?"

This was a hard one to answer, considering there are so many things in this world, which if not there, world could be so much better and easier to live in. However, before I tell you what I put down my answer as, I would like to tell you how and why I answered it the way I did...and no the answer I put down was nothing extra-ordinary or fancy. In fact most people would call it as the obvious and the cliched answer to the above question. Although a cliche, it still has a lot of resonance in the times we live today.


There are a lot of things that are wrong in this world, but the root cause of all these things can be traced to a common link: poverty. As someone has rightly pointed out "Its all about the money!" and money is what drives this world. Some of the grave problems that our society faces today, whether its corruption, malnourishment in the developing world, , high level of illiteracy, rise in crime, etc are all a result of poverty, regardless if poverty is a direct or indirect cause of these problems. The desperation to earn money and provide basic amenities like shelter, food and clothing for one's family is still the main concern for a majority of people around the world, and although we regard the 21st century as the age of technology and progress, in many ways we are still stuck with a lot of problems that have been there with us since a long time.

I find it interesting how the definition of poverty changes depending on which part of the world you are in, for example, we all know the desperate poverty that has become the face of Africa, but then we also see homeless people right here in New York City, which is another face of poverty in the developed and industrialized world. This decade has also given rise to the new kind of poor, which though may not compare anything to the poor in Africa or the homeless in the big cities, are also finding it hard to make ends meet with massive credit card debts and no savings.

Poverty is what forces families to sell their children into slavery or prostitution and to work in unhealthy and hazardous conditions to be able to send some money back home to their families who have nothing else to fall back on. Poverty is also what forces young and frustrated people towards religious fundamentalism, which gives them a false promise of a better and happier life. It's also what forces kids to drop out of school in order to work, denying them education and healthy childhood. So indeed my answer to the question was poverty, because if I could remove that from the world, most of these problems wouldn't exist.

A lot of us fail to see these problems around us because they don't affect us directly, however I feel that the first step towards effectively dealing with poverty is to become aware about it. Governments around the world are responsible to take effective action against eradicating poverty, but there is only so much that governments can do. We are as much part of the society as the government is, and hence its also our responsibility to become more aware about poverty and related problems that affect people around the world today.

And if you are wondering where to start at, I have a suggestion...you can visit the website of Nicholas D. Kristof, the amazing New York Times journalist, who travels around the world documenting the devastating poverty and its related issues that are widespread in the developing world today....its just the first step you can take to become more aware and perhaps it may inspire you to take some action!

Here is the link to his YouTube channel...take a look at it!

http://www.youtube.com/show?p=iRzC3O3mQ1U&feature=fvsp