One Geek

Walking home from my coffee shop in South Extension, listening to music on my iPod, feeling a dust storm gathering a thought hit me. We are going to win, poverty will be made history.

For so long I had doubted that victory was possible, much of my work seems to be so futile. The lack of commitment from rich countries like Australia to poverty reduction has been depressing for me. As is the seeming lack of interest from the general public.

I don’t know if it will be in my life time or not but I know in my heart we are going to eliminate poverty. It is simply not sustainable. I had a think about the people I know who are working to fight poverty and how many people are working on it that I don’t know. We have some of the brightest, hardest working and most passionate people working for our cause.

But the thing that convinces me the most is watching the local Indians setup a market as I was walking along. These people are so enterprising, there is no way that unfair trade rules will keep them down.

We have the most powerful weapon in the history of man on our side, love. You can’t suppress that, people have tried to do so and they have failed. Love also has a powerful and life changing network effect on people. One persons actions can inspire a nation, or even the whole world. I’m thinking of people like Mandela or Gandhi here.

So I sit here filled with hope.

It is just a matter of time before poverty will be history.

Delhi, Pretentious drivel, Social Justice