A Millennium Goal: Teach a Man to Fish

I don't need a reason for this photo

The UN Millennium goals are some standards I have always found very interesting. The problems they address are quite simply impossible to solve. World hunger will never be stopped, individuals will always be under educated, and there will always be diseases threatening to wipe us out. Now don't mistake me for a pessimist, I'm a realist. That being said that doesn't mean we shouldn't try, after all I've been wrong before.

 All of this being understood their is one particular millennium goal that I thought might actually be able to be achieved: Global Partnership for Development. In particular target 8.B "Address the special needs of least developed countries". 

The reason I support this goal so much is because it is the foundation for solving for all of the other problems in this world. By developing other countries economically, then individuals find jobs. When individuals find jobs they can feed their families, and send their kids to school. When kids go to school they learn to respect others no matter what their religion, race, or gender, as well as learning to respect the planet. when kids graduate from school they learn how to cure diseases and save lives. 

I could go on all day about the amazing effects economic advancement can have on the world, but I find I can easily sum it up in one sentence. Economic independence allows for individuals to decide their own fate. For me it all goes back to the saying, "Give a man a fish feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a life time."

We should aim to help others find their own way, not just provide everything to survive. providing these goods is nice but in many ways it acts as a crutch. I don't believe people want to just survive, I believe everyone wants to thrive.

really makes you think doesn't it