Tuning into the PBS News Hour last evening, one of the few television shows of any value, I watched two stories that highlighted the vast and growing gulf in human society. The first focused on the meltdown in the stock market, triggered by upperclass tax cuts, futile wars, the banking crisis and recent bickering in Congress over the National Debt. The second, in sharp contrast, revealed the horror in southern Somalia, where a prolonged drought and vicious militias have sent hordes of starving families across the border, to a massive refugee camp in Kenya; some 30,000 Somali children have died from illness and starvation over the past few months.
While these crises are worlds apart, their juxtaposition in the news highlighted the tremendous variance in human lifestyles, a phenomenon unseen in any other species. The comfortable life of an investment banker, with his mansion, penthouse and yacht, is so far removed from that of a starving Somali child that it takes some effort to realize that these two individuals have the same physical and mental potential and the same emotional needs. Unfortunately, due to the inherent selfishness of our species, few are willing or able to acknowledge this basic relationship.
Efforts to encourage a balanced approach to the inequities in human society are met with condemnations of socialism and are strongly opposed by those with the means to initiate significant change. Power, greed, zealotry and selfishness are at the helm and untold millions suffer the consequences. In time, the massive divide between rich and poor must change from within or, as history has demonstrated, revolution will even the score.
