Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. There are “conflict diamonds” that the people of Sierra Leone dig up, some for 30 cents a day, and get sold in New York City symbolizing the connection Americans feel between diamonds and eternal love. These diamonds are worth billions on the international market, and make their way around the world thorough illegal and legal intermediaries. The place in the world with the most internally displaced people is Sudan, with over five million refugees and displaced persons. This type of knowledge is vital to anyone interested in the world economic and social inequities. The ability to learn and read the news is a benefit that seems to be taken for granted by Americans. The number of people, of any age who read the news, is at a very pivotal point in society, and that number seems painfully low. It has come to a point where if people don’t know about world events then it is hard for them to be world citizens and contribute adequately to society. Information is a gift that is given by the First Amendment, and to live in a country where it is acceptable to have an opinion and write about a person’s innermost feelings is an endowed right of being an American. It seems that in today’s world that everyone wants to have an opinion but doesn’t want to do the research and acquire information to substantiate that opinion. There are so many events that are going on in the world that are, believe it or not, outside of the United States. The saying, “you have to take of yourself before your neighbor” is truly embedded into the American psyche because America wants to fix our problems before we help anyone else, but how we can help ourselves if we don’t help others in the process? How can America’s public education system be effectively fixed if other states don’t have proper education systems? It is the true task of being an American to read the news and to see the famine and strife that run rampant in others countries as well as in ours.

Nicole Young '07