One Dollar a Day

Did you know that at one in every seven people on Earth lives on under one dollar a day?

It can be hard to think of and relate to the poor in our world from our perspective in the United States. Although there is certainly poverty here, the U.S. is so much more developed and prosperous than the truly disadvantaged nations that need our help most. The issue of poverty is a serious case of distributive injustice--the richest 20 percent of the world's countries (including the United States) accounts for three-quarters of world income while 24,000 children die every day due to poverty.

These statistics are just some of the many shocking facts I have learned so far working on my Catholic Social Justice project. They offer an intense wake-up call if you really consider how many people suffer in our world while we have so much. I was particularly alarmed by the fact that so many people live on just one dollar every day--I spend so much more than that on the most unnecessary things! It's so wrong. For the next week, I am going to keep a record of all of the money I spend and compare my "weekly budget" to the rest of the world's to make the message sink in even more... I probably won't like what I learn.