We Take So Much for Granted

We have become a nation of ingrates. We have some of the best health care and educational systems in the world and we have no idea just how good we have it.

Two items from BBC World News this morning...

One was an item about a chorus of AIDS orphans in Africa.

The second piece was about rotavirus diarrhea. Rotavirus is fairly rare in this area of the US (the northeast). But the virus kills 500,000 children each year in developing countries. We will occasionally test a child for rotavirus but they've got to be pretty sick before it' considered. American parents rush their children to emergency rooms with the first sniffle yet 500,000 children under age 5 all over the world die from this annually. We might start IV fluids, make sure the child can drink then, usually, discharge. Women in developing countries have no such luxuries to offer their children as easy access to quality health care, adequate sanitation facilities, ready food supplies and generous government assistance.

Yet we take it all for granted.

I think there should be mandatory military or governental service for every American or legal resident from age 18 to, maybe 21. These young people could travel to countries in the developing world and see how a majority of the world lives. They could provide labor for necessary projects within our own shores and learn the value of hard work. Let's give our young people a real taste of what they're missing in their sheltered, little world. Then, maybe someday, we won't be seen worldwide as "ugly."

Technorati tags: health and science / world politics