reflections from the other side of the world

As i sit here in Freetown, Sierra Leone observing the lives of those around me & reflecting on the world these thoughts have been crossing my mind...

Each day around the world men & woman live in fear. There are children who have only known war - woman raped, men tortured - yet us in the blessed '1st world' are exposed to little of this except whilst watching the news from the comfort of our homes. We complain about our jobs, complain about our partners, about school - that we want more - a better car, a bigger TV, a more luxurious house -- we complain about almost everything...We have grown lazy with our wealth & our security - we complain about a system that keeps our streets safe, gives us free health care -- that allows us to be free in our beliefs - religion, politics, relationships, & to speak out for our rights without fear of unfair punishment or prosecution.
Yet in much of the world still people walk in their own land with no freedom - woman and children go about their daily activities under the threat of violence - boys and men are made to fight & perpetuate this violence. But those of us in these rich safe countries - countries where most people are willing to risk their lives only to have a chance to live in them - to taste an ounce of our freedom - to give their children an oppurtunity to dream, to hope, to fufill a potential all children are born into this world with-- we have become greedy with our freedom, believing we somehow deserve more than another because we were lucky enough to be born in these places --- taking no time to concern ourselves with the welfare of these others. Thinking it is not our responsibility.
The poor and marginalized members of our society, our planet, our world suffer at the hands of the rich and free. The wealth and freedom of our country was founded on stolen land with stolen people & this continues today -- we buy goods made by children enslaved, we wear diamonds and gold purchased in exchange for weapons, we see woman and children sold as property -- and still all we do is complain that our boss makes us work late, or that we didn't get the designer bag we wanted --- it is on the back of those who suffer that we thrive.
What is the story behind that shirt you wear, that coffee you drink, that diamond you own? Our planet has grown small - through technology we have access to every corner of the globe -- ignorance & prejudice is no longer acceptable - Your freedom comes from anothers suffering - isn't it time we got off those backs & demand from ourselves a better world not just for some, but for all...