Why I am Thankful

[Kuan]

I'm sorry about all my *****ing.

From http://flatrock.org.nz/topics/odds_and_oddities/ultimate_in_unfair.htm

This is the 1994 Pulitzer Prize winning picture taken by Kevin Carter. It depicts a famine stricken girl crawling to an UN aid station one kilometer away. The vulture you see in thie picture is awaiting her death.

Yip.

Not a threadjack but we watched "The Deadliest Catch" on Thanksgiving Day I promised to never ***** about my job again.

[G-Benz]

I would assume the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer picked up the child and completed the journey once he got his prize shot...

[Kuan]

Originally Posted by G-Benz

I would assume the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer picked up the child and completed the journey once he got his prize shot...

He didn't. Many people saw that shot and thought he did. What they didn't see is the thousands of others just like her. He killed himself later.

[cmac2012]

That is intense. It would have to be mind-numbing, to see so many people in need and not really being able to do much about it.

What kills me is the possibility that if you go to one of these places to try to help, you'll just be another mouth to feed. Of course, if you're part of a crew bringing in a large amount of food, you'd be part of the solution, temporarily anyway.

[JenTay]

being somewhat of a refugee myself, i donate regularly to Doctors without Borders.

It's funny how life throws you curveballs sometimes. Doctors Without Borders is a French organization (I think). You all here know how I feel about the French.

[Ra_]

Over 30,000 kids die every night.
If they all survived, what further problems might result from the resulting population explosion?

You can't convince the people to breed less,
because they are convinced that they need to have a dozen kids,
in the hope that one child might survive,
to take care of them, in their old age.

[Azimyth]

I can't look at this without tearing up. There is plenty of charitable giving happening in the world. Sadly, Corrupt govts. and power brokers usurp most of it ala Saddam and his ilk.

I'm going to hug my children now.

[crash9]

Originally Posted by Ra_

Over 30,000 kids die every night.
If they all survived, what further problems might result from the resulting population explosion?

You can't convince the people to breed less,
because they are convinced that they need to have a dozen kids,
in the hope that one child might survive,
to take care of them, in their old age.

You can make yourself crazy hooking into all of this. Guess this is what you get by exporting modern medicine. All this is really that bias in the news. We're so sheltered from much of the reality in many places that we don't have some immediate interest in. On the other side of the coin - did you catch 60 minutes piece about all the tacky McMansions? Well I think they're tacky, but my taste is a little plain to the extreme.
There are a few charities that do a little better and you can do a lot with a little. I looked into what were better ones - there's a site somewhere that breaks down how much actually gets to people. I've supported "Children International" for several years and many local women's/children's shelters set up along the lines of "Casa de los Ninos" do a much needed job right in our own communities

[NKowi]

And to think we're spending so much money (we don't have) in Iraq. If ever there was visible evidence to show there are much more important things on which we could use those resources...

[aklim]

Originally Posted by NKowi

And to think we're spending so much money (we don't have) in Iraq. If ever there was visible evidence to show there are much more important things on which we could use those resources...

Important is subjective. What is important to me may not be important to you.

[Kuan]

I think this year's Christmas present fund is going to have to shrink. Sorry kids.

[cmac2012]

Originally Posted by Azimyth

I can't look at this without tearing up. There is plenty of charitable giving happening in the world. Sadly, Corrupt govts. and power brokers usurp most of it ala Saddam and his ilk.

I'm going to hug my children now.

Agreed, that is a real tough one. What scares and humbles the shYte outta me is the very real possiblity that this sort of thing is the inevitable fate of about half the earth's population at some point in the next few decades.

We have no natural predators that make even the slightest dent in our numbers, lessen you count germs, and the dent those make is not big so far.

Not that I'm hoping for a sudden influx of deadly predators, just that we are mammals, who eat food, consume resources, and denude land, just like a whole bun' o' rabbits on an island without predators. We have got to slow our population growth, world wide, not just in Europe and the U.S.

[Carleton Hughes]

Ohhh Christ, I avoided this thread for days and just viewed it you bastard,there goes half a bottle of Maker's Mark dammit!

[J. R. B.]

Originally Posted by Carleton Hughes

Ohhh Christ, I avoided this thread for days and just viewed it you bastard,there goes half a bottle of Maker's Mark dammit!

As hardend and crusty as I am every time I view that picture I have a mixture of feelings. First I have pity for the child. Next I have anger that this happens in the first place. Then I wish I was there at that moment in time with a rifle so I could shoot that ba$tard vulture. Now where is that bottle of Jim Beam.