A real life experience.

[Hatori]

Hello!
Over the past week, I have been absent because my family (except for my brother. ) and I went on a cruise. We visited three locations with excursions and what not.

But, what hit me the most was when we visited Nassau: an island of the Bahamas. The location of Nassau is right by the Atlantis resort.
We took a tour of the island in a van with many other people. The driver showed us all of the rich, middle, and lower class of the island.
As we were touring the lower class homes, I felt as if I were to break to tears. All around it was very dirty. The homes of people usually had tin roofs and usually and outdoor or no bathroom. All around dogs roamed homelessly with their puppies (this was the saddest it felt like).
Most of the poor saved money up together to buy food and drinks, which are more than twice the expense in America, to enjoy together. They also cannot afford medical treatments and have to use the natural resources from tree leaves around them. These people lived in such poor conditions in the lower class which is just so terrible.

After hearing people talk about things like this going on around the world, I actually take it more seriously now because I've seen it for real.
Has anybody experienced something like this before? Since I saw the lower class in Nassau it makes me want to help make a change.

[Tspoonami]

Go to India. Or Africa.

Or many parts of the world besides America... Sometimes it bugs me when I see people being picky over which clothes to buy, etc. I can't help but think about impoverished people who don't even know what a mall is, forget an air-conditioned, high-class, fancy clothing store.

However, after a point, seeing extreme poverty doesn't even really affect you any more. Of course, seeing children with no food and water, dead parents, and AIDS pulls at my heart strings, but...

[Mike Cash]

Saw it lots of times in the Phillipines when I was in the Navy.

[caroline]

Well, yes, in Africa or in Asia... but don't forget that there is also something very close probably not far from where you live. And it's quite true in a lot of developed countries, including mine.

[Hatori]

I've also taken to my knowledge that it's hard to understand how half the world is starving and the other half is overweight.

[Infidel]

most of those overweight people are malnourished.

And America has places like that too. They are just gatherd up and shipped somewhere out in the country when they appear in the city. So it's not as if this is something that only happens outside the US, or is worse elsewhere.

[Kdar]

The Strong live, The Weak die.......

Sad.. But true.

Just the way human population forms, changes etc......

[keatonatron]

Kdar wrote:
The Strong live, The Weak die.......

Sad.. But true.

Just the way human population forms, changes etc......

While the stupid have lots of babies (which the country pays to take care of) and the smart are smart enough to use protection and not get pregnant before they're ready.

Did you see Idiocracy? Frighteningly believable.

[hiraikotsu]

Yeah. Saw it for the first time last month. I was in Kenya (not a really poor state compared to her neighbours..) Even so, the disparity is amazing... I never knew there were that many Caucasians in Africa... Most stay in the countryside with beautiful bungalow houses, horses, vast acres of land.. etc, you get the picture.
Step into the towns and you see the dirt, shacks, street kids with glue bottles... It's like the poor people have absolutely nowhere else to go, they're just cramped up in the towns.

[Infidel]

keatonatron wrote:

Kdar wrote:
The Strong live, The Weak die.......

Sad.. But true.

Just the way human population forms, changes etc......

While the stupid have lots of babies (which the country pays to take care of) and the smart are smart enough to use protection and not get pregnant before they're ready.

Did you see Idiocracy? Frighteningly believable.

The meek shal inherit the earth. Call it divine intervention.

[tanuki]

I believe one of the worst things you can see in my country, besides homeless people, are the people in the West (mountain region) who must build their precarious houses in the hillsides; houses that are prone to come tumbling down with any landslide there is, which is not an uncommon event. Hopefully without any people inside...

[flammable hippo]

What makes things worse is that countries like India, where a large percent of the population is poor, used to be the most prosperous areas in the world. India used to be close to the top along with China but western colonialism screwed that up for them...

[two_heads_talking]

I also visited nassau (twice actually) once on my honeymoon and once later on. It's no different than any other country really. poverty is a real issue that people deal with every day.

Things your average person takes for granted, these people would see as mana from God.

I've also taken to my knowledge that it's hard to understand how half the world is starving and the other half is overweight.

well that isn't entirely true. in fact it isn't half the world that is overweight.. however, there are some huge pockets of obesity all over the place. i would say there might be about the same that are starving. it's really quite easy to understand. up to this point you had never seen it.. out of sight, out of mind. it's easy to disregard something you don't see first hand. i would imagine that many of the rich are so secluded and isolated they don't know anything past the front door..

In Mexico, the little kids flock tourists selling anything and everything to bring home some money for their families. they will take your wallet too if you are not looking.

I can walk down the streets of Washington DC and see the difference in living from the District to the slums.. homeless put their sleeping bags over sewer vents so the heat rising will keep them warm. some never wake up from their last nap.

There are many things you can do to help. Do research before you decide to donate anything. There was a huge scam a few years back where old computers were donated to be sent to third world countries to be used in schools.. Come to find out the person who received the donated goods, ended up selling them to the countries rather than giving them to the countries.

@keatonatron, not every person who has a large family is stupid. there are those that can afford to have them and it isn't a burden at all. there are also those that cannot afford it and those become a burden. your point is valid, just not complete.

[Mike Cash]

tanuki wrote:
I believe one of the worst things you can see in my country, besides homeless people, are the people in the West (mountain region) who must build their precarious houses in the hillsides; houses that are prone to come tumbling down with any landslide there is, which is not an uncommon event. Hopefully without any people inside...

Also a pretty standard event in Japan each year.....