THE UNCOMFORTABLE THINGS

Recently I have been reading about issues associated with war and I came across the following excerpt:

"In one analysis the comparative cost of civilian (unprotected) casualties is $2 000 per square kilometre with conventional weapons, $800 with nuclear weapons, $600 with nerve gas weapons and $1 with biological weapons."

It got me thinking about how we use our money.

With $2000 I could blow hundreds of people to smithereens; I could buy a gold necklace with diamond pendant; or I could take an old lady off the street and put her in a nursing home where she will have shelter, food and healthcare for almost a year.

With $800 I could incinerate hundreds of people with searing heat, or doom them to suffer from the effects of nuclear radiation; I could hire a yacht overnight; or I could establish a small school for 20 pre-schoolers, pay their teachers for a month and provide them all with one meal a day for a whole month.

With $600 I could destroy the nervous systems of hundreds of people; I could perhaps stay a few nights at a 5-star hotel or could buy 5kg of rice for around 130 people.

With merely $1 I could destroy hundreds of people by purposely inflicting them to horrible, deadly diseases; I could buy myself a chocolate bar (if I'm lucky); or I could provide a day's wage for one of the just under 1 billion people across the world who is living on around $1 a day.

So, because I was pondering these things, I looked for a few more statistics. Now, please forgive me that I have not quoted my references as I am simply pondering and not trying to write an essay. I am hoping that my sources will not begrudge me sharing their statistics with you and I am hoping they have been as accurate as they could be. I'm not too sure how recent these figures are but I'm sure the picture they try to paint is still valid. With that in mind, this is what I found.

Almost half the world lives on less than $2.50 a day. At least 80% of the world lives on less than $10 a day.

Around 30 000 children die each day due to poverty. It is held that every second child lives in poverty.

Less than 1% of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn't happen.

I came across a table of statistics claiming that the world spent $780 billion on military costs and $400 billion on narcotic drugs. Europeans spent $105 billion on alcoholic drinks and $50 billion on cigarettes. In comparison, consider the following additional costs needed to provide access to basic services. $13 billion was quoted as being necessary to provide basic health and nutrition in developing countries. $12 billion could provide reproductive health for all women. $9 billion could provide water and sanitation for all and $6 billion could be used to provide basic education for all.

Maybe we could all use a little change.