Have you ever had the wings at Outback? if you like wings, you should certainly give them a try. Plump and juicy with this dry rub breading... Delicious.
So... as I wait for my medium rare steak, let's talk about poverty.
Sounds like a crazy juxtaposition... oh good, my salad has arrived. Man, I forgot to have them hold the onions...
anyway... I have been thinking about many stories I hear around the world of the living conditions in various countries. Take India, as an example. On one side of the street, a 5 star hotel. On the other side, a shanty town complete with packs of wild dogs and people defecating on the side of the street. This story struck me as absurd. I listened on and it expanded to not just that city, which I thought it must have been. It was the entire country. Along the freeways tent villages were setup. There was even an accompanying clip of a market that was setup on a train track, and they just folded the awnings up and stood out of the way while the train passes extremely close to them, dropping the awning out the second the train has passed.
Oh good, my steak is here. I wish they would keep my drink refreshed better.
Where was I? OH yes, abject poverty in India, just as an example is everywhere and such a fact of life that most visitors, after becoming accustomed to the assault on their senses and sensibilities, just slowly give up... In trying to find a way to help the entire country... while guides are telling their charges to not give to the panhandlers, as their is a cartel beneath much of the beggar system. You will not be helping the poor child that asks for money. His legs were likely broken by his masters to make him better at pulling sympathetic dollars from their marks.
The government, in these cases, is commonly bought and paid for. There was a newspaper with coverage on reform and government aid availability to the poor. When this was mentioned to the guide, he scoffed and informed the tourist, that newspaper is in English, and few are literate and fewer in English. that article does not appear in my language. Followed this, he said, "the government is nice to have, if you can afford them."
Window dressing. The systemic problems of a caste system (which of course doesn't exist) relegates entire subsets of society into permanent servitude and poverty. Those in power, find it easy to keep their power and have no incentive to change the status quo.
So what is a middle class American tourist to do when faced with the harsh realities of the rest of the world? In many cases... Nothing. In this case, there was nothing they could do, but try to swallow it and move on and try to enjoy the purpose of the vacation.
Would you do something different? What about here at home in the USA, where there are still children that go hungry, families without a roof over their head who are hoping the government cheese is enough so they don't have to shoplift food? What about them? Or the villages all over the world that don't have clean water?
It is a daunting problem. How would you fix it?