The Gap Between Rich and Poor Essay example -- Poverty Poor Essays

The Gap Between Rich and Poor As Christmas time approaches, many Americans start to get excited about returning home to all of the familiar festivities. They imagine the smell of the Christmas tree mixed with the aroma of apple cider or think about all of the Christmas specials on television that they will watch. They can not wait to relax in front of the fireplace with their families and to open all of the Christmas gifts piled under the tree. On the other hand, more than half of the rest of the world will not be having the kind of holiday with presents, fireplaces, and television specials that most Americans are used to. In fact, the money U.S. parents spend on Christmas presents alone this year will probably be more than the annual income of over half the worlds population. It is heartbreaking. Our world is essentially divided into two sections: rich and poor. Unfortunately , the majority of people are poor. Each society has certain attributes that are part of its culture. Richer countries are literate, industrial, overweight, overfed, and comfortable. Poorer societies are illiterate, under-developed, hungry, malnourished, and struggling to merely survive. There is a very large and uneven gap between the rich and the poor. This gap is a very real thing. Poverty is a reality that exists for most and effects them every single, waking day of their lives. It is a reality in which children die because their parents could not afford penicillin. People live in small, one-room shacks in groups, of ten with no running water and little food. A bathroom for them is a large hole in the ground. Poverty is a real struggle that’s purpose is to merely survive. This type of poverty did not always exist. Before the Industrial R... ...ndustrial capacity, technology, and infrastructure to compete with the industrialized countries, which have been honing their economic might for over a century. All in all, the problems in the other world in terms of oppression are too great to fathom. It is sick that a minority of the population can cause such agony and deprivation to their own human kind. One of the biggest problems in resolving the problem is that most Americans are completely naive and oblivious to this great oppression that merely continues to get stronger. This year, when all of the Christmas festivities start, maybe some will be a little more humble and remember the part of Christmas called giving. Help has to start somewhere. Individuals can do a tiny bit for maybe one family this Christmas. God willing, the spirit will spread, and the other world might some day find a glimmer of hope.