2.04.2009

I read this book so I might understand Eric Kelley when he talked...


It didn't work, I am pretty sure I usually have no idea what he is saying. I know he is talking about finance, and I know it is smart, but other than that I just nod and try to cling to the words that I recognize. It's kind of like when you are in a foreign country and you have the most basic understanding of the language. Just grab on to the first idea you can comprehend and go with it.
The book, however, was very powerful. I guess it should seem like common sense that $100 dollars goes way farther in Bangladesh than it does in the United States, but I never dragged that idea around long enough to come to the conclusion that poverty could actually be curtailed by micro financing loans to the poorest of the worlds poor. This means the 1 billion people that live on less than a dollar a day, and then the next 1-1.5 billion that live on 2 or fewer dollars a day. Think about that, we are talking about annual incomes of $365. That is something I come across in in a few days, and I have the luxury of sitting at a desk all day. It is amazing to think that with a loan of $30 I could give someone in Bangladesh, or the Philippines, or Laos a month head start in their business. That is enough leeway to get out from under their debt or to break the cycle of interest repayment that they are stuck in essentially until they die. My $30 dollars could launch a necessary business in a place where business and profitable living are out of the norm. It could be the beginning of a new way of life in a village that knows nothing but poverty, nothing but lenders that lord their debts over villagers. It could be the easy way to be Jesus to a farmer in Bangladesh, or a weaver in Cambodia, or a fisherman in Micronesia. Jesus didn't really have money that we know of but if he did I think these are the places he would have used it. My country just threw 800 billion dollars to a bunch of greedy suits to help stimulate an economy that imploded on its self while they could probably turn around the economy of entire provinces of nations in Sub-Saharan Africa for $800,000. I am fortunate to live the life I live, and a lot of that is because God planned for me to live it here, but the ridiculousness of poverty in this world makes me want to vomit.