Rachel

Joseph Cobb Dr. Pegan Phil 102-C March 19, 2010 Homework # 5 In chapter 17 Rachel tell us that we as people wait for something big to happen before we lend a helping hand to others in need. She tells that we should not wait for something bad to happen for us to take the initiative to help others in need. An example that Rachel gives to us is the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Rachel tells that more children die on that day from starvation then the amount of innocent people that die in the twin towers. She goes on stay that in the next two days after the attacks 30,000 more children died from starvation alone. Rachel tells that the cost to get a two year old to be as health as a six year old only cost twenty cent a day. In the end people sometimes look over the poor, because they are almost invisible. After reading this chapter I found it very surprising about the amount of children that died that day was over looked by the twin towers. I would of never thought that more children died from something so basic to human life such as food and water, then from a plane crashing into a building where people where working to bring home food, and water to their family. I agree with Rachel that we as people overlook the everyday poor person (people in Africa, Haiti before the earthquake, in our own country), but then when a catastrophe hits we then want to people. We as people should be helping one another before a major event happens. I was truly surprised by the cost to take malnutrition two year and turn them into a health six year old. Most people around the world I believe can lend a helping hand, especially here in America. We as American always say that they can’t afford to help but at the same time our new TV cost the same amount as what some people in other countries make in a year. We as American have a moral obligation to help those that are in need of help. Bob had an old Bugatti that he loved very much. He took very good care of his car. He was not a rich man but if worst can to worst he would sell his Bugatti if he really needed the money. One day Bob drive his Bugatti to the park to go for a walk. He parked his car near some rail road tracks. While Bob was walking he felt the tracks shaking and saw that a train was coming. As he saw the train he also saw a little boy on the tracks as the train was coming. The little boy was too far away for Bob to call him or try to save him from getting hit by the train. There was a switch where Bob was standing that he could have pulled to make the train switch tracks. If Bob pulled the switch it would of saved the little boy’s life but would of crash the train into his Bugatti. Bob decides not to pull the switch, so the train hits the little boy and kills him. Rachel would like for us to take away from this story is that we first not say that Bob is the bad guy for not pulling the switch. Stuff like this happens every day and we as American are quick to say that Bob is the bad guy we in reality we all have a little bit of Bob in us. We may not realize it because sometimes it’s not always life or death. Rachel would like for us to sit back and think of a time where we were in a position help someone else but failed to because we were thinking of our material goods. Rachel believes that people should give at least $200 dollars to help fight world poverty. If we all help by giving $200 dollars and combine that with others people around the world(that are able to give 200 dollars) then world poverty would not be as big an issue as it is today. $200 dollars is not much most of us spend more then that kind of money on vacations, clothes, and other material things that have no real moral value to it. This little donation could help thousands of families across the global to get some of the basic functions of human life such as water and food.