Can't we do more?

I have had a really unique opportunity. I just got back from Peru – quickly unpacked my bags, went to clinic for a day, and then took off for a trip to Pebble Beach, California.

My opportunity, aside from learning how to juggle back-to-back packing experiences (I have quite a few more back-to-back trips planned for the spring), is that I find myself staying in a real luxury resort. The “opportunity” that I define from this experience is that just one week ago I was staying in one of the poorest communities in Latin America - an area where families often live on less money for one month that it costs to stay in a place like this for one night.

I am very humbled by this experience. Don’t get me wrong, I do not fault places like this, nor do I in anyway intend to point the finger at the upper socioeconomic elements of our society; rather, what is most compelling to me is the vast gap that exists between the “have” and “have not” populations of this world. This trip allows me to directly juxtapose my two experiences and to draw immediate (and very tangible) comparisons in my mind.

I don’t think that advocating for a sweeping dismal of places like this resort, or demanding that we stop purchasing luxury items – that sort of thinking is illogical and does not make any sense - is a good idea. If people stopped staying in wealthy resorts like this place many people would lose their jobs. If people stopped spending their money on luxury purchases – the economies of the world would trickle even further into a bottomless hole. Rather, what is most immediate to my mind while I am having this luxurious experience is the need for moderation. The need for a living on a little less - so that others can live at all.

What if we all decided that we could live on just a little less? What if we decided that we could cut our vacations back by one day? What if we decided that we would donate the monies from this moderation exercise to organizations that are working for social equality and economic fairness?

I spoke to one of the housecleaning staff last night. She was telling me that business is very brisk at this time. She was telling me that she is happy that people are staying in her resort – because it means she has a job. She said that she was very happy to have a job at this time in our economic "crisis."

I would not advocate that we make such sweeping changes to our lifestyles such that she no longer has a job. Rather, I wonder when the last time she had a vacation was. I wonder if she could even afford to stay in “her” resort for one night.

is a well established fact (UN Development Data, 2005) that the THREE richest people in the world control more wealth than all 600 MILLION people in the world’s poorest countries. Can’t we do a lot more with just a little bit less personal consumption?

I once had a person ask me, “Why should I give money to your organization and not give my money directly to the people who need it?” That is an excellent question. My reply was something like this . . . if you are one of the three wealthiest people in the world, then great – please give away; because the amount of money that you can afford to donate will make lasting changes for this generation and future generations. However, if you are not going to give the sort of financial capital that will structurally change the way that people live, provide educational opportunities for future generations to fight the vicious cycles of poverty, develop better healthcare delivery and utilization mechanisms, and increase the earning potential of the 600 million people living in poverty – then please give your money to groups and organizations that work to build sustainable bridges of advocacy and care delivery. Please contribute to organizations that work to create structural changes.”

We can, and must, build a future that eliminates desperate poverty – and the only way to do this is the change the structures that lead to such disparity in the first place. I am challenged to determine ways that I can live on less in my life – so that many more people can have an opportunity to live. Please join me in considering ways that you can live more life on less money.

Thank you for your continued support of HBI.