Noise #105

Everyone is lifted when everyone has enough

Everyone is lifted when everyone has enough—a self-evident truth, and one that’s been on my mind and in the news this month.

A recent Washington Post editorial says that the United States can prevent millions of children worldwide from starving this year. Global food aid must move forward, the article argues, not just because feeding starving kids is the right thing to do morally, but because mass hunger threatens the hungry and well-fed alike:

When people do not have enough to eat, they often flee to other nations or join extremist groups who lure them with promises of food and change.

As the editorial spells out, the desperation of some can become danger for many, and when preventable desperation goes untreated, tragedy soon follows. In looking at global hunger, the Post addresses just one manifestation of this sad dynamic; other examples, big and small, can be seen everywhere.

It always stuns me to hear people describe vast issues of wealth and poverty, feast and famine not as vital opportunities to elevate humanity—but as zero-sum games governed by caveman-era moral standards. Only in a world of brutal and monochromatic fantasy are the many required to suffer for an anointed few to thrive. And when life is viewed through such a distorted lens, the simple logic of feeding starving children can simply fall away.

Everyone is lifted when everyone has enough—a self-evident truth, and one I hope to see embraced, with increasing conviction, everywhere.

My musical reflections on the above:

Wishing you peace,

Michael

(Noise #105 by Michael Gallant. Copyright 2023 Gallant Music LLC. All Rights Reserved.)