Knowledge Brings Responsibility – Joëlle Rondeau
One second, two, three—a grief-stricken father clasps his daughter’s lifeless body—four, five, six—a grandmother’s hopes are buried with her grandson. In the time it takes to read these lines, seven, eight, nine more children will close their eyes forever. This is not a metaphor or a literary device, but reality: every three seconds, extreme poverty causes a child to die. At this terrible pace, in eight years, 8,700,000 children will die without the resources they need to survive.
It’s Time for Chil
dren—that was the theme of the Montréal Millennium Promise Conference 2006, held Thursday, November 9, at the Palais des congrès de Montréal. More than 3,000 people—academics, diplomats, businesspeople, and politicians—gathered to attend workshops on the status of global child poverty. I had the opportunity to attend this impressive event and hear speakers such as Bill Clinton, Jeffrey Sachs, and Mia Farrow. I am writing this because I have been entrusted with a commitment, and it is my duty to pass the torch to you. Poverty is everywhere. It is stealthy and insidious, inexorably snuffing the life out of people. We need to realize this. One person in five lives in extreme poverty. Can we, in the comfort of our homes, even imagine that it exists? Imagine having only a toonie in your pocket. That’s how much people in extreme poverty have to meet their basic daily needs. Bill Clinton reminded us that though we all depend on each other economically, the benefits of our global market economy are reserved only for the “developed” half of the world. Craig Kielburger, founder of Free the Children, noted that we live in an era of globalization and mass media, but we do not yet have global compassion. The fate of some children matters less because they live in developing countries. Yet, to quote Jeffrey Sachs, a renowned economist and director of the United Nations Millennium Project, “For the first time in history, our generation has the power to abolish poverty worldwide.”1 It thus seems that if we allow so many to be disenfranchised, the problem is one of values and priorities. Yet we are often disillusioned by the lack of social progress in our time. We feel the weight of problems inherited from previous generations. We watch nations tear each other apart over trifles. We plainly see the polar icecaps melting. We vainly voice our wishes, and they echo back ignored. Cynicism slowly replaces our hope for lasting change. As global citizens, you care about the poverty this article describes; but, like me, you may sometimes get discouraged and feel that it is futile to try to rally communities to fight social injustice. You may wonder, in this day and age, if eradicating poverty lies within our grasp if we are equally responsible for the state of the world. The answer I heard at the conference was a resounding yes! The conference gave new impetus to my feeling of commitment. It is my duty to share that commitment with you. I heard the world’s great leaders say that things can change, eradicating poverty is truly our number one millennium goal, and you and I do not act alone, but together. Every day, we have the opportunity to change the world around us. For this opportunity to have a real impact, we must believe and get involved. What we do together today shapes our future tomorrow. We have a voice. If only by our daily choices as consumers, we affect the living conditions of people around the globe. Soon we will be the world’s great leaders, and we will determine what we want and where our priorities lie. I left the conference convinced that we had all rallied to the same cause. I clearly felt that responsibility had been handed to us like a torch, and that I had a moral obligation to get involved. I went home in the subway, and for the first time, I really looked deep into the eyes of those around me. I found them beautiful, because I realized we are strong and we can combine our strength to move mountains. Together, we will continue this story. Where do you want the story to go? Above all, how big do you want it to be? As you have read these lines, extreme poverty has caused hundreds to die: 450, 451, 452…Knowledge brings responsibility. The torch is in your hands.
One second, two, three—a grief-stricken father clasps his daughter’s lifeless body—four, five, six—a grandmother’s hopes are buried with her grandson. In the time it takes to read these lines, seven, eight, nine more children will close their eyes forever. This is not a metaphor or a literary device, but reality: every three seconds, extreme poverty causes a child to die. At this terrible pace, in eight years, 8,700,000 children will die without the resources they need to survive.
It’s Time for Chil
dren—that was the theme of the Montréal Millennium Promise Conference 2006, held Thursday, November 9, at the Palais des congrès de Montréal. More than 3,000 people—academics, diplomats, businesspeople, and politicians—gathered to attend workshops on the status of global child poverty. I had the opportunity to attend this impressive event and hear speakers such as Bill Clinton, Jeffrey Sachs, and Mia Farrow. I am writing this because I have been entrusted with a commitment, and it is my duty to pass the torch to you. Poverty is everywhere. It is stealthy and insidious, inexorably snuffing the life out of people. We need to realize this. One person in five lives in extreme poverty. Can we, in the comfort of our homes, even imagine that it exists? Imagine having only a toonie in your pocket. That’s how much people in extreme poverty have to meet their basic daily needs. Bill Clinton reminded us that though we all depend on each other economically, the benefits of our global market economy are reserved only for the “developed” half of the world. Craig Kielburger, founder of Free the Children, noted that we live in an era of globalization and mass media, but we do not yet have global compassion. The fate of some children matters less because they live in developing countries. Yet, to quote Jeffrey Sachs, a renowned economist and director of the United Nations Millennium Project, “For the first time in history, our generation has the power to abolish poverty worldwide.”1 It thus seems that if we allow so many to be disenfranchised, the problem is one of values and priorities. Yet we are often disillusioned by the lack of social progress in our time. We feel the weight of problems inherited from previous generations. We watch nations tear each other apart over trifles. We plainly see the polar icecaps melting. We vainly voice our wishes, and they echo back ignored. Cynicism slowly replaces our hope for lasting change. As global citizens, you care about the poverty this article describes; but, like me, you may sometimes get discouraged and feel that it is futile to try to rally communities to fight social injustice. You may wonder, in this day and age, if eradicating poverty lies within our grasp if we are equally responsible for the state of the world. The answer I heard at the conference was a resounding yes! The conference gave new impetus to my feeling of commitment. It is my duty to share that commitment with you. I heard the world’s great leaders say that things can change, eradicating poverty is truly our number one millennium goal, and you and I do not act alone, but together. Every day, we have the opportunity to change the world around us. For this opportunity to have a real impact, we must believe and get involved. What we do together today shapes our future tomorrow. We have a voice. If only by our daily choices as consumers, we affect the living conditions of people around the globe. Soon we will be the world’s great leaders, and we will determine what we want and where our priorities lie. I left the conference convinced that we had all rallied to the same cause. I clearly felt that responsibility had been handed to us like a torch, and that I had a moral obligation to get involved. I went home in the subway, and for the first time, I really looked deep into the eyes of those around me. I found them beautiful, because I realized we are strong and we can combine our strength to move mountains. Together, we will continue this story. Where do you want the story to go? Above all, how big do you want it to be? As you have read these lines, extreme poverty has caused hundreds to die: 450, 451, 452…Knowledge brings responsibility. The torch is in your hands. 
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