Between conversations these past few weeks in class and
finishing “The Power of Half,” I have found myself thinking a lot more
consciously about the decisions I make in my every day life and how lucky I am
to have what I do. One thing that stood
out to me through the entire book, and in reflecting on my own life, is the
stark contrast between those who have and those who do not. I saw a picture a while ago about the wealth
of the world and, although I cannot remember it exactly, it said something
along the lines of “if you have a roof over your head and a dollar in your
wallet, you are among 25% of the richest people in the world.” When I first came across this picture, I
really didn’t believe it, but as I have gotten older and done more of my own
research, I can’t help but think that this source-less infograph might actually
be true. The more I stop and think about
it, the starker the contrast I find between my own life and the lives of people
who don’t even have enough money for food, water, or clothing.
As I sat reading the Salwen family’s account of their trip
to Africa and the poverty and hunger they saw there, I couldn’t help but notice
that my sister was watching a television show that took the viewer on a high
definition tour of the best deep fried foods in America. As I sit typing this blog post, an awards
show that probably cost millions of dollars to produce is being held for people
who make millions of dollars every single year.
I am working on this assignment on my relatively new MacBook Pro for a college
class that I pay thousands of dollars to attend. Even Kevin Salwen, a man who
is all for donating your wealth, has a twitter account (https://twitter.com/kevinsalwen) that
showcases pictures and quotes from multimillion-dollar television networks,
sports events, and websites. Personally,
stopping and thinking about all of these things has been incredibly eye opening
and the juxtaposition between the “haves” and the “have-nots” has become more
and more real with every single thought.
I’m not saying that I believe in total distribution of
wealth or in giving hand outs and free-rides to those who do not wish to change. I’m not saying that we need to cancel Food
Network, or shut down the NFL, or put an end to the Grammy’s. I’m not saying that we should give up a
career or an education. I’m not even
saying that I think everyone needs to go out right this minute to donate to
something. And I’m definitely not saying
that I am innocent in anything I just mentioned; I overeat without thinking
about people that are hungry, I buy things without considering what else I
could do with that money, and I am totally one of those people that feel guilty
when the United Way comes around once a year asking for a dollar per paycheck. What I am saying is that I think everyone
needs to be a little more conscious of where their money does go and where
their money could go.
I personally did not love the Salwen family’s book (I
thought it was very wordy and kind of self aggrandizing), and I’m not even sure
that the message I took away was the message that was intended, but I do know
that the book made me think very hard about consciousness. We need to objectively take a look at the
issues in America and in the rest of the world, and then take a look at where
we spend money. Industrialized societies
are going to spend resources on things that a large portion of the world would
consider luxuries. It’s not as though we
need to completely give these luxuries up, we just need to realize and
recognize how much is going into them and what we can do to help our fellow
human beings. Living in America and having even a little bit of money means that we have the power to decide how we're going to use it. Not everyone is going to donate half of their money to charity;
some people will not even want to donate that two percent American
average. At the end of the day, the
money that we earn is our money, but
it is so important that we know and understand what is going on in the world
before we make the decision of what to do with it.
Bethany- this post was very powerful and though-provoking for me. You are so right in saying that we take for granted the extensive luxuries we have. It is very easy as teenagers growing up in a privileged world to live unaware of those who are struggling both across oceans in Africa and across streets right in our communities. It’s upsetting that so much of our society seems to be wearing blinders to the problems around us.
ReplyDeleteThere are countless factors to “blame” for the disparity between our lives and the lives of others. One could argue that people are inherently selfish, but I would disagree, seeing that people who do give find so many benefits in it. There is certainly no shortage of resources and ways for anyone to get involved in giving. I believe that the main reason people do not give is that they are simply uninformed.
We see so many advertisements on television to help dogs in shelters, to help starving children, to donate NOW THIS MUCH MONEY FOR THIS THING, that we have become desensitized to the images and ideas that should make us want to reach out. Education on philanthropy should start early and never stop. What inspired Hannah Salwen to get involved was her volunteer work serving meals to the homeless. Regardless of how much we can learn from the Salwens’ journey, the most important thing is that they had one. As we’ve discussed in class, any amount or act of giving is philanthropy and can make a difference.
Maybe an education on why it is important to give should begin in elementary school. Maybe it should begin earlier than that, even. What is most important though is that philanthropy should not seen as a chore or as busy work, but rather as a real opportunity to change the world. If children were brought up with a sense of how privileged they are in comparison to others and educated on how they could make a difference, they would grow into globally aware and conscious adults who could really change the world.
Great post Bethany! In your last paragraph you said, “I’m not even sure that the message I took away was the message that was intended.” In my opinion, you did even better by not taking away the intended message of the book. The book seemed to promote and focus more on the Salwen family and less on promoting the power of giving away half. You were able to filter out the Salwen’s self-promotion and instead find the relevance to the average person, which is having the ability to make a difference.
ReplyDeleteInstead of remembering the details of their lives and other irrelevant information—you have considered the impact that people can simply by reducing the excess in their lives to make an impact for someone else. Recognizing that our society as a whole has the ability to more frequently consider alternative uses for our income, while seeing luxuries such as the Grammy’s and NFL, guided you towards a more lasting impression. The benefit of the exposure we have to all of the excess is that it allows us to remember what is important and encourage us to think twice before getting stuck in the treadmill effect.
You may not have closed the book and praised the Salwen’s for their decision, but you were able to close the book with a more conscious level of understanding of society and even yourself. The accumulative self-awareness this book brings to readers is what will make an impact. The change that is needed will not come from thinking of an upper-class family who gave away half of their possessions and then told everyone about their generosity.
Brittany, I love your argument of people not being inherently selfish. You mentioned that if individuals were selfish, we would not find all the rewarding benefits to giving. While I am not sure whether or not people are naturally selfish, this is a new perspective I had not yet considered. Thanks for weighing in on that and giving me some more to think about!
Bethany, I think your argument is perfect. Similar to Brittany, I think the point you took away from the book is better than the one intended. I think the book was supposed to promote selflessness and giving without thought about receiving back, but this is a flawed point. It is almost impossible to give selflessly. We as people have a habit of looking for something back--recognition, fame, some kind of reward for being generous. That is an issue people have been debating since the dawn of charity and an argument that won't end anytime soon. However, your argument is infinitely less problematic. Instead of giving selflessly, maybe we should take a step back and ask ourselves if there's room for us to change our behaviors. I completely agree with Brittany, philanthropy is a concept that should be taught to our children at a younger age. We shouldn't ever become desensitized to other people's suffering and hardships.
ReplyDeletePersonally, that's something I have an issue with. I think that there are many organizations in the world that are capitalizing on new and exciting forms of social media and interaction. They make provocative commercials, asking people to pledge small amounts of money in return for this picture of a suffering child. However, this entire process becomes harmful. People begin to mute commercials on animal cruelty because we've seen it too many times; we tell ourselves that small pledge of $1 wouldn't have made a difference anyway, and someone else will give more. Thinking like this is harmful to us. We lose track of that consciousness Bethany wrote about, and instead of monitoring our own spending we ignore what needs to be done. Having some level of awareness is best, in my opinion. We need to watch ourselves and give what we can, but at the same time prioritize ourselves and dedicate what we need to in our futures.
It seemed in class most of us were more interested in the proactive approach to giving, and that was what bothered us about the Salwan family. While they made a generous gesture to a worthy organization, we all asked the same questions--did they mis-prioritize? Should they have saved their daughter's college fund? Why the trip to Africa? I think Bethany is exactly right, and I agree with her argument more than the book's. We cannot let ourselves become desensitized to other people's suffering. And sometimes, all that requires is just a little more thought about how we spend.
Bethany,
ReplyDeleteYour points regarding the disparity of wealth in the world and our class' collective criticism of the Salwen family made me really think about how much we have to give. As a class, we love to complain about how unrelatable and over extravagantly wealthy and priveleged the Salwens are, but poking holes in others' ideas is always easier than self reflection. Last week during class discussion, my group was throroughly analyzing question after question that Dr. Campbell proposed. When the prompt that asked us to reflect on what we could give away, we were stopped in our tracks: in the midst of our relatively simple criticisms of The Power of Half, we ultimately found ourselves in an embarrassingly hypocritical situation.
You mentioned an infographic detailing how priveleged and relatively wealthy we as Americans are. While we debate the minutiae of "Salwen Philanthropy" and how "unrelatable" they seem, aren't there far more unfortunate people than us who find us equally or more unrelatable?
This blog post brought for me a new perspective on how we can all look to analyze philanthropy, not through a critical lens, but through one that allows us all to grow and explore other angles of giving.