Stand Up and Speak Out

On May 13, 2007, the UN World Food Program had a world walk to help end child hunger. Their goal is to end world hunger by 2015. You can find their website at http://www.fighthunger.org

On October 16-17, there is a walk or Stand Up and Speak Out event in Second Life (SL). One of the posters at the event in Second Life says: "Why Stand Up And Speak Out? In 2000, leaders of 189 countries signed up to the Millennium Development Goals, a global commitment to halve extreme poverty by 2015. Yet, every day, 50,000 people die as a result of extreme poverty and the gap between rich and poor is getting wider. We need you to STAND UP and SPEAK OUT to make governments honour their commitments on more and better aid, debt relief, trade justice, gender equality and public accountability. It will not happen without all of us taking a stand." You can visit their website at http://www.standagainstpoverty.org (The picture above is a snapshot of me as Polgara Paine at the Stand Up and Speak Out event.)
Now you may be asking what Second Life is. It's a virtual world where people have a physical presence (an avatar) and interact with the environment and with other people. It's much like the real world (RL) in that there are both good and bad. Having money there is nice, but it's not absolutely necessary because there are so many free things. You can get free food and drink even though you don't need food or drink. There is so little you need in SL, but you can meet people from all over the world—people like you and people not like you—which makes SL a very interesting place.

In SL you can also find many nonprofit groups such as FightHunger.Org and you can join the ones that interest you. This is an important one because it addresses a serious accessibility issue—the access to food. I know there are hundreds of important causes, but access to food is a basic human right. Why is it we don't do more to help assure that people have the food they need—not just enough to survive, but enough to thrive. I've joined FightHunger in SL and made a contribution in SL that can be converted into real money in RL. I encourage you to either join me in SL and make a contribution or make a contribution in Real Life.

Your contribution doesn't have to be hundreds of dollars. Just contribute the amount you would spend on a cup of designer coffee or a glass of wine or a beer or a pack of cigarettes. Deprive yourself of one thing you don't really need to survive to help someone who could put that money to good use buying food for someone who does not have the food needed to survive.

Would you let your own child or that of a neighbor starve while you enjoyed a glass of wine or a cigarette? I pray your answer was no. These children are our neighbors whether they live in the next apartment or they are half way around the world. Stand up and be counted.