Hi.
I feel pretty good today. My room is relatively clean, and I'm going to get some work done. Last nights BYO was pretty fun. I don't know if I've had squid before, but it was rubbery and not too bad.
School is winding down. I can feel the end of college's breath on the back of my neck. It's good though. I'm in a great place and excited for the future. Living in Brooklyn with all of the all-stars that I am going to live with will be very exciting indeed. I am willing to bet that there will never be a dull moment.
We talked about water today in Markets, Morality, and the Future of Capitalism. While I'm not as familiar with the frameworks we are supposed to use to evaluate the problem, it seems to be a complex one at that. I obviously do not support bribery for private companies to take over water sources in nations that are unable to pay for it; I do no support redistribution of water sources from poor areas into rich areas because the water is sold more easily there. However something I continue to think about is that food, in most respects being very similar to water, is fully integrated into the market and people are not upset about that. People are upset that many do not have the right amount of food due to market processes, but they rarely question the fact that food is sold in the first place.
Personally I don't see a difference. I am teetering right now as to whether I believe food and water are rights. If I were to say that they are, I would feel pressured to, as a global citizen, find some means through governmental institutions to provide these rights for all. Market systems make this very complicated.
One interesting statistic is that peoples birth rate goes down as their income level increases. This means that the more money a person makes, the less likely they are to have a lot of kids. One thing I am unable to understand is, if families in poor third world nations do not have enough food and water to provide for themselves, why do they continue to procreate? If a child dies from hunger, and the mother continues to have children, what level of responsibility do I, a global citizen, have towards this mother?
While I understand there are significant cultural practices that contribute to these family sizes, as well as rape, bad information about sex, etc., I'm still baffled by how many men and women bring children into the world that they are unable to care for, in first-world countries and third-world alike.
I know it sounds heartless to say that water and food are not rights. However, I think that progress should be met with pragmatism, and that we should not hold ourselves to a standard until the standard has been set. I want every person to have food and water for certain, however we are not yet a global community, responsible to each other for better or for worse. We come from a very Darwinian mindset, shown through our competitive economy, our vying for personal acceptance from potential mates, our desire to be funny and popular in social situations, etc. People are not yet born to be others focused.
I think that a significant cultural change needs to happen for this to be so. I think it involves a new Church of Christian believers that are more focused on basic needs than Proposition 8, a reduction of consumerism and personal choice as one of the highest central goods, and perhaps even social service being integrated into our education system. How cool would it have been in high school and college if we were required to serve our community in some capacity and to interact with those who are less fortunate then ourselves? There is much to be said and even more to be done...
