Perhaps you have never heard of social Darwinism. The reason why I can walk into a store, fill my cart with juicy steaks and tubs of ice cream and then pay for it with my gold card is because I live in a superior civilization. That's just the way it is - some civilizations and cultures are more advanced than others, and therefore, better off. There's nothing you can do about it; the unfair imbalance of wealth in this world is only unfair to those who are unsuccessful. Am I jealous because some moron makes more money than I do just because he can sing a song or throw a ball through a hoop? Of course not - that's the way life is, and I'm mature enough to accept it. I'm not going to throw a temper tantrum because things didn't go my way all the time. Not everyone can be equal - it is our differences that make humanity so wonderful. If everyone in the world had the same opportunities and same amount of money and same everything, then this would be a pretty boring, useless world. By the way, aren't the people who want to save the word the same ones who are always bitching and moaning about "Cultural Diversity"? So there you go. There's your cultural diversity. My culture eats cheeseburgers and drives gas-guzzlers and goes to the movies and buys DVD players. Other cultures live in huts and eat leaves. That's life. It's not my fault that the third world countries' citizens cannot eat properly or do not have gold jewelry and SUV's, nor am I going to feel guilty about it. My ancestors fought and died to make sure I would have the opportunity to succeed in this country. Am I lucky? Sure, maybe. I'm lucky that I wasn't born in some poverty-stricken country. However, I also worked hard to get where I am: I put myself through college and studied diligently. But I don't rest on my laurels, either. Everyday I am out there working (and I'm not some corporate greed monster, either -- I'm a teacher in the inner city of New York, and I challenge anyone to find a more admirable and valuable job - not to mention one that is more rewarding and fulfilling) in order to make life better for my family and myself. I take great offense when some idealistic wanna-be hippie thinks that of life's problems can be solved by abandoning meat-eating and leather, recycling everything in sight, and somberly shaking their heads at people like me who like to cook up a few sausages, drink a few beers (the kind that come in six packs with that little plastic thingy holding the cans together), invite a few friends over and watch the ball game on my 50" TV. I should live like a pauper because someone in Indonesia doesn't have any shoes?

Furthermore, this country has enough problems of it's own - you want to show how much you care for all of humanity, then I challenge you to quit buying hemp shirts and soy burgers for one week and take that money and donate it selflessly to your nearest homeless shelter. I don't care what anyone says about this being a global community - the American family who has to live in their car because some soul-less corporation decided to downsize is infinitely more important than a thousand people starving in some insignificant corner of the world somewhere. Whatever happened to "Think Globally, Act Locally"? Or did you guys abandon that in favor of a new and trendier buzzword? I don't make a lot of money, but I make enough to pay my bills, put food on the table, a roof over my head, and still have enough left over to buy and do what makes me happy (and maybe put a little away for the future). I'm not going to give it up because some person in sub-Saharan Africa can't feed his 13 children. I can't afford children, so I do the responsible thing and abstain from having them. These third world people you mourn can't scrape together enough food for a decent meal, but somehow they have no difficulty procreating like cockroaches. If you're so concerned about the quality of life for all of humanity, take a moment, step outside of your little recycled, bleeding heart, liberal little bubble world and take a stroll through the projects and depressed areas of this country. I know for a fact that the computer that you use to spew your ignorance costs more than some NY city families make in a month. Do you think that you're making the world a better place by recycling some aluminum cans and buying unbleached, biodegradable tampons? Give the hypocrisy and phony idealism a rest for a little while and open your eyes. Ask yourself: What the hell have you really done to make anything better?