Blog by Eric Francis | Planet Waves

Planet Waves | May 10, 2005

Namaste! I love to use that word when I write -- like Shalom and Aloha, that's a word that you can start with, or end with, or tuck anywhere in between. When I was first introduced to yoga, years back, I was told it meant that "The God in me salutes the God in you." The 21st century version, a'la Deepak Chopra, goes -- "I honor in you the divine that I honor within myself and I know that we are one."

It's that "one" part I'd like to talk about today.

It's our lowest-common denominators that connect us all -- in our many similarities, the family of humankind is one family. No matter what our culture or our religion or our politics, we all want our children warm and fed, given opportunities to thrive. We all want work that gives us purpose, relationships that buoy and sustain us, freedom from poverty and disease and despair. Too many on this planet go without those basic needs met ... too many are unable to ensure their own survival from day to day. To make it worse, their countries are often war-torn and full of corruption -- with such poverty, how could it be otherwise?

This is the model: when the population of a country can support and educate itself, it becomes stable. When a country becomes stable, it turns its attention toward peaceful means and cooperation. When a country begins to prosper, it takes its place at the table of nations. At that table, it participates in peaceful negotiation of its differences. That's why bombs won't bring us peace ... only domestic peace can insure political stability.

There are things we can do to help.

When I am able, I like to give goats for birthdays and holidays. I hope one day to afford a water buffalo. If this doesn't stike a nerve with you, you haven't heard about Heifer International.

http://www.heifer.org/

This is an extraordinary charity -- it supplies destitute people in third world countries with animals and/or agricultural supplies that allows them to both feed themselves and market their product as well. This is "teaching a man to fish," in the broadest terms ... although I find that it is mostly the women who take advantage of this opportunity, enabling them to feed and educate their children. Part of the "contract" is that they are to pass on some of their animals or seedlings, as well as their expertise, to their neighbors. The pleasure of knowing that your gift set into motion an opportunity for independence and prosperity for an impoverished community is contageous -- when you mention the birthday goat, or Christmas seedlings, or Easter rabbits to the friend who received notice of that contribution in their name, they will reward you with a big old grin [and as you know, I like smiles!] It's a great project, Heifer. Check it out.

Which brings me to the Millenium Project. In 2000, all the member countries of the UN adopted the Millennium Development Goals, aimed to eradicate extreme poverty and ensure universal primary education and basic health care by the year 2015. "Extreme poverty" would include those who live on less than a dollar a day, or the equivelant. The goals, surprisingly, are achievable ... all it takes is funding -- and considering how much is routinely being spent elsewhere, not that much. [I read that the Army awarded Halliburton $72 million in bonuses, today -- Jeffrey Sachs says that half a million kids could be protected from deadly malaria if they slept under nets that cost $7 each.]

Sachs is the professor, author and economic adviser who directs this global development project and I love to hear him talk about it because it's so do-able ... but each time he appears on PBS or elsewhere, little progress has been made. The United States, for instance, devotes somewhere in the neighborhood of .07 percent of it's national budget to this project -- and much of that is going into AIDS medicines and emergency food relief. Nothing is being applied to "cause" -- the money is going to "effect." Jeff Sachs says that when people hear that scant number, they don't believe it ... they assume that the world's Superpower is giving much more of its budget to sustain other countries, double-digit numbers at least.

As well, the US is filtering that money through so many specifics, it has created dissent among the recipients. For instance, to quote International Planned Parenthood Federation spokesperson, Eve Fox ...for the past ten years, Brazil's HIV/AIDS effort has been a model for the international community. Their program emphasizes condom use and distribution and comprehensive sex education and is also quite open about sexuality and prostitution. Last week, Brazil's AIDS Program refused to comply with the new rule that all HIV/AIDS organizations must officially condemn prostitution or lose USAID funding. In doing so, they forfeited $40 million in USAID money because they feared that condemning prostitution would undermine their ability to treat HIV/AIDS and slow the spread of the disease." Along with US censure of abortion and condom use, our money isn't very popular these days -- and the dying continues in alarming numbers. Write your legislators.

And have you heard about ONE? If you think artists and actors and singers shouldn't have a political voice, then don't go to http://www.one.org/ If you think that's just peachy, then open the link -- watch the cool ad they've produced; it ran recently on a Jon Stewart "Daily Show" commercial break, and I was delighted with the many faces I saw in support of this movement. Sign the ONE petition [with the likes of Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, Bono and a half-million others] that declares:

"WE BELIEVE that in the best American tradition of helping others help themselves, now is the time to join with other countries in a historic pact for compassion and justice to help the poorest people of the world overcome AIDS and extreme poverty. WE RECOGNIZE that a pact including such measures as fair trade, debt relief, fighting corruption and directing additional resources for basic needs - education, health, clean water, food, and care for orphans - would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the poorest countries, at a cost equal to just one percent more of the US budget. WE COMMIT ourselves - one person, one voice, one vote at a time - to make a better, safer world for all."

I can't save the world today, neither can you ... but together we can do a lot to improve it -- every child is just like our child, their every bright dream for tomorrow mirrors our own childrens dreams. The family of humankind IS one. Open the links, investigate, act.

Namaste ~

Jude