Injustice, an inconvenient truth

From the director of the popular documentary "An Inconvenient Truth", comes a similar disheartening but eye-opening (must-see!) film "Waiting for Superman" released in 2010. Seeing this documentary just a few days ago, made me feel frustrated at how the world has become so unequal, that even passionate reformers in the past could not break the system of injustice. As one reformer featured in the film, Michelle Rhee said in her speech at a D.C. restaurant in May 2008:

"It’s the biggest social injustice imaginable.What we are allowing to happen in this day and age, we are still allowing the color of a child’s skin and the Zip code they live in to dictate their educational outcome, and therefore their life outcome. ... We are robbing them every single day of their futures. And everybody in this country should be infuriated by that.”

Even though this is a documentary on the public education system in the US, it raises a lot more issues about socio-economic perspectives, that are deeply rooted to what we really value as human beings. 

I wish to expand more and reflect on the different issues raised in this documentary in my future posts. But for now, I encourage you to see this film and comment below about how you felt or what you think about it. 

Snapshots of the stark disparities

 "As society advance the standard of poverty rises." 

(Theodore Parker) 

The wealthy and the poor have always been around us. This is the mindset most people (including me) have had. As the quote above by Parker reflects this current perception, which sadly had become a reality,  this mindset should not be accepted, as it will only lead to neglect, and for some choosing to turn a blind eye to the harsh realities rather than address it. Thus an ever widening gap between the rich and the poor, as seen in the images of the built environment of Makati (Manila's financial district), only exacerbate social problems.

(Image sourced from: http://www.daylife.com/photo/08Z65PJ7iP6Lh)

(Sourced from:http://www.flickr.com/photos/
technopinoy/2703091218/)

(Image sourced from: http://skilledtoserve.com/page/2/)

To quote Adam Smith:

"No society can surely be flourishing and happy of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable."

As members of society our perception of poverty and inequality should that be of Smith. Having a sense of (healthy) discontent to the stark social, physical and economic disparities.

"What matters is not how affluent a country is but how unequal it is."

(Tony Judt) 

Hope ignited

It’s been seven years since we moved from the Philippines to New Zealand. Growing up in a middle class family from a third world country, it’s hard not to associate the urban environment with images of slums, beggars and chaos. It is a common sight to see street kids begging for money and food in order to survive. The sight leaves me feeling very uncomfortable, like something must have gone wrong. This general sentiment of frustration reminds me of a line from Tony Judt's  book “Ill Fares the Land”: 

"We know something is wrong. Many things we don't like…”

Knowing so little of why such a terrible fate exists or how it has come about, it's easy to ignore the realities. We are tempted to think that there is nothing an average person can do, and thus no alternative. For a while, if not most of my life, my attitude and thinking is that of accepting the reality -the poor and the rich coexist and is inevitable. Until one Friday afternoon in my lecture, the idea of ‘theMBA’ has been introduced to me.  TheMBA stands for “there must be another way”, and it is the Zulu word for ‘hope’ (Gordon Brown). This has challenged my perspective in relation to poverty. Always, there must be another way to address poverty –to plant seeds of hope for a better society that will lead to a sustainable future; where the gap between the rich and poor are narrowed, not just in the developing nations but also in developed countries like New Zealand.

How? That’s the difficult question, which I would like to explore, understand and learn more about over the coming weeks and months in relation to my Planning course.