Last week we celebrated Thanksgiving here in the US, a holiday that is foreign to me having grown up in Nigeria. Still I have so much to be thankful for, as many of us do. But the truth of the matter is, I found myself feeling really sober over the Thanksgiving weekend because of something I read. I get a google alert every day about articles that focus on AIDS, Africa and poverty, and this one landed in my box the day after we had all given thanks.
Through a blog entry that Jeffrey Sachs (Head of the Earth Institute at Columbia) posted on the Huffington Post, I learned that Congress is re-thinking the pledge the US made to give $1.3 billion to the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria for the next fiscal year. That sounds like a substantial number though its money well spent. It goes to fund various development programs including such basics as life saving mosquito nets, has saved 7 million lives over the last decade and improved the health of countless others. But 1.3B doesn’t seem like much – because it isn’t - when you compare it to the $1.9 billion that the US spends on the military EVERY DAY. Yes you read that right. This country spends almost 2 Billion dollars a day to protect the interests of this country but you and I both know that in those efforts, it ends up maiming and killing thousands of civilians and devastating neighborhoods.
It’s frightening to contemplate. And it makes me wonder what God thinks as he watches us begrudge funds to help the least of these while doling out funds that end up taking lives and destroying communities. Have we lost sight of the fact that we are ALL created in His image, in His likeness?
Sobering stuff indeed.
Lord have mercy.
Here’s the link to Sach’s piece if you want all the gory details: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-sachs/washington-leaves-million_b_1112746.html . And once you read it, PRAY. Pray for God’s kingdom to come, here on earth as it is in heaven.
