Dear 21st century

We are quickly becoming the century of all time. We are so technologically advanced that sometimes we can't even keep up! It's fascinating that a piece of technology can become outdated in just a matter of a few months. With technology the world is getting smaller, people are living longer---most things are at our fingertips. Yet, even with all these advances, there is still a few things that are missing and that were taken out of the equation. These include: deep human relation, the fulfillment of human rights for everyone and a sense of security and freedom.

Human relations have been reduced to superficial interactions. This is partly due to the high pace of our society. This is also partly due to the numbing effects of television, video games, ipods, and such. Nowadays, we don't even need to leave our houses if we wanted to. Thus, we don't have to interact with people if we really do not want to. Now we have the internet that allows us to do everything at home. We  can work at home, do our shopping, pay our bills, do our taxes, manage accounts, send emails, and a variety of other things. Needless to say, the way that people interact is redefining itself.

There are several basic human rights that we all are entitled to which are access to food, clean water, education, and health care. With the technology available, there is enough food to feed everyone and still have a surplus. Yet, there are still 925 million people are hungry. Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes. (More information available at http://www.bread.org/hunger/global/facts.html) About 1.4 million children die from waterborne diseases. 884 million people lack access to safe water supplies; approximately one in eight people. (Information from water.org)  The Census Bureau states that the number of the uninsured rises to 47 million Americans; an almost 5 percent increase since 2005 (http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/567737 or http://www.census.gov/ 
Really?

Many people live in constant fear; there is a loss of security and freedom. There are many war-stricken countries, there are many wars and battles in our own country that is swept under the rug, there is much oppression. There are marginalized folk who live on the outskirts of society facing many difficulties. They  are ostracized and live with the burden of oppression. There is constant fear about survival and many of their human rights are denied.


Those who are privilege also lose a sense of their humanity as well. To oppress others is to lose our own humanity (from The Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire). 


So 21st Century, where does that leave us? And, where are we going?


Sincerely,


Blogger