We Will. We Should. We Might.

The problem with poverty is that it is unsightly. It is families of ten, making most of two square meters worth of living space. It is small children in tears, shivering in the cold rain begging you to buy their flowers. It is an emaciated man; his ribs seen clear through his paled skin, expressions of pain carved onto his face. It is our country’s future, cognitively deficient due to nutritional deprivation. It is disgusting. It is uncomfortable. We, who consider ourselves the developed, the educated, cannot stand the reality of such lack. Something has to be done about it. That is why we build walls to hide the urban poor’s existence, and we call the police to send the transient beggars to jail. There. Now the metro is pretty again. This doesn’t do our educated status justice. Aesthetics is the norm. It was never the solution.

If aesthetics is the norm, then poverty is the disease. Maybe it’s time to realize that in our society, at least for 26 million of our countrymen, poverty is the norm, and our extravagance is the disease. Substantial steps must be taken to address this issue.

I was privileged to witness a landmark event in world history. In the year 2000, I along with a friend from my high school, and a few friends from my days as a student volunteer in Malate Church were in Remedios Circle in Manila for the Philippine launch of the Millennium Development Goals of The U.N. The two of us from my high school were only 12 then, and the other people with us were in their teens. Inspired by the wonderful display of hope and passion to eradicate world poverty, we promised each other to continue working for the good of our fellowman. We were determined, that with the U.N.’s guidance, and the determination in our hearts, the world would be rid of poverty by 2015, and we would be part of this great effort. Halfway through the program, it seems even the U.N. has lost hope. 7 years after our promise of service, I and my friend are in College; hopeless of our cause, on the brink of despair. We used to think our idealism could change the world. Now our greatest challenge is changing our social class’ minds. Our friends from Malate who had lived in the nearby squatter area had since been evicted. Of the five of them, only one had finished college. This is the reality of apathy and poverty. We fail to care, and the world sinks lower.