The Poor, Advocating For Change

WE ALL WANT the same things. We want everyone to have enough food, a decent place to live, and good, or at least halfway decent health. Disasters like the one in Houston tend to make this realization more immediate, somehow. We see all these people suffering for want of basic necessities, and we feel immediately compelled to find some way, any way, to help. Perhaps this Shows our good side, that humankind, in the words of Goethe, is, in the end, noble, compassionate, and good. Right now, they say the best way to send help to Houston is to send money to people like the Red Cross, or any number of different relief agencies and charities, then let the professionals sort it all out and organize and distribute the needed help. That might be good advice for all of us, all the time; when in doubt, send money. Money is liquid, and can be converted into tangible forms of aid and directed to targets by people who know how to do all this... The problem with maintaining a satisfactory material existence for all is how to get there, and how to stay there. Warren Buffet and Bill Gates have donated half their fortunes to a charitable trust, and have left the use of the fabulous amount they gave, tens of billions, to the professional decision making of professionals. Buffet and Gates both know how to make money, but, as Buffet said, they aren't experts at giving it away efficiently, so that it does the most good. Other people can handle that better. And still, fundamental reforms in political and economic systems will have to be made by humanity as a whole. A satisfactory standard of living for all people will never be possible under totalitarian governments, or economic systems which allow to wealthy to increase their wealth at will, without consideration for others. This task, of changing the world for the betterment of all, must fall to the world's non wealthy, of whom there are far, far more. The wealthy cannot be expected to advocate for change.