All Around the World

In English class, we are rapidly finishing up the novel The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (if you haven't read it, catch a summary here). The Poisonwood Bible begins in 1959, a year that may seem way different to readers today in 2010. Since I was only born in 1993, 1959, a year without computers or cell phones, is almost unimaginable for me. (Catch a flashback to 1959 here) The Price family, the main characters in the novel, are even harder for modern day readers to relate to because they are spending a year in the Congo, a country with cultural and political systems that Americans can barely fathom (get the lowdown on the Congo). However, one thing that does seem relatable between 1959 Congolese and 2010 Americans is the issue of societal division.

As I've discussed in previous blogs, societal divisions are extremely prevalent in American society today (read You Could Be Next In Line at the Soup Kitchen). However, it didn't really stike me that societal divisions are also just as prevalent on a global scale until reading The Poisonwood Bible. A major passage that I thought really illustrated this was towards the end of the novel when Adah, one of the daughters who is now grown up, responds to her nephew's question, "But, Aunt Adah, how can there be so many kinds of things a person doesn't really need?" Adah's response (below) is what really hit home for me the idea that class divisions occur everywhere.

"I can think of no honorable answer. Why must some of us deliberate between brands of toothpaste, while others deliberate between damp dirt and bone dust to quite the fire of an empty stomach linging? There is nothing about the United States I can really explain to this child of another world."

Her nephew, Pascal, has lived in Congo all his little life and has never seen the luxuries of the United States. Now, he is roaming the aisles of large stores, debating between Crest and Colgate toothpaste. Sure, we are told all our lives that we are blessed to live in America. My question is how can we ever fully appreciate that luck until we see the other side? Pascal probably never imagined that while he was struggling to fall asleep with an empty stomach, somebody in America was debating about whether they wanted to serve processed or organic corn.

In the end, what I've realized is class divisions occur not only on a local and national level, but also on an international level. We need to reach out and help not only our local neighbors, but also our neighbors starving overseas or our neighbors who are being evacuated from their homes because of a civil war in their country. The Poisonwood Bible has shown the shock that Americans can feel if exposed to a different culture for a substantial period of time and this puts everything, even drug stores and toothpaste choices, in perspective. As readers may remember, a main aspect of my blog is "so what now?" What can we do now to help create international justice in basic human rights and access to resources? One attempt at international justice that I very much admire is the United Nations Millennium Goals. Although often criticized for not being efficient enough, I believe these goals are a good first stab at decreasing the large gap between our worlds' richest and poorest people and countries. If you have any other organizations or causes that are attempting to level international access to resources, comment and let me know!

-Emily