What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you see this?

Question

http://flickr.com/photos/tadzima/426300721/

Answer 1

Having taught a lesson on pride just a couple days ago, it seems to come to the front of my mind, and it makes me think of the awful pride that so much of the world is infested with.  It also seems like one of the real problems with capitalism (economics based on pride).

We are never content with having enough, only more than others.  People in other countries live in this type of situation for a number of reasons- poor economic planning on a national level, no natural resources, overpopulation, lack of education, etc...- but a lot of it has to do with the pride of other nations that could help raise these places up.  

We get into this national pride thing and we end up thinking we are better than other places because we have more.  When those countries start to improve their situations, we dont feel happy for them, we feel threatened.  

So few countries use up such a huge percentage of the worlds resources, I think what we see now with prices rising and market scarcities was the obvious eventual outcome.  You couldnt have america, japan, and 5 or 6 euopean countries as the only people to use up resources forever.  Now that China and to a lesser extent india are starting to compete for them also, there just isnt enough to go around.  Its like the kids that get to a party first, then at some point the rest of the party shows up.  No the first kids dont get to keep everything to themselves, they are no better just because they showed up sooner.  But pride would tell those kids they deserve to have more.

I think a lot of countries are going to have to go through some major changes to the way the vast majority of their citizens live.  There just arent enough things to go around (at the levels that americans are used to having them).  We also have to compete on price with the rest of the world now.  This is sadly going to put places like the philippenes and other smaller countries on the brink of starvation for many of their citizens unless something changes.  (Im sure youve heard of the riots for rice in many countries)  Crazy times to be living in... it seems closely related to so many transitionary periods of history,(the industrial revolution, the renaissance, the revolutionary period, etc) it will be interesting to keep an eye on how this all plays out, people will probably be talking about this time as a major shift in the worlds history in 100 years.

Edit,

Yeah, just my first thought.  I didnt mean it in the sense of lets give them everything we have.  Certainly there are options for the people if they would work to get them, its just pretty sad to see the different circumstances others are forced into.  

In southern mexico there are the people that live in the mountain villages and people in the cities.  The two rarely mix.  The people in the villages dont realize they are poor because they dont know any different and they like to keep it that way.  They just have a very different point of view than the city people.  They look at the most important things as family and community.  bigger houses and nicer things never really entered into the equation.  They have (in their opinions) comfortable lives because they dont know any different.  They have dirt floors, take water up from the streams etc... but to them, its as good as they have ever known so they are happy.  

Its just funny how our perspective changes our views of the things we see.

Answer 2

wow, looks like America took a dump on another country.

Answer 3

It makes me sad to know that people have to live like this, and there's nothing they can do to change their situation in life.  Children don't deserve that.  But it's what they are born into.  

Answer 4

Looks like a neighbor's back yard..

Answer 5

filth. how can you (not you in particular) live in this or find anything?

Where is my toothbrush?

Where is Waldo?

ok, I had a few thoughts