It is fair to say that for most people, social justice brings to mind the sufferings and injustices done to our fellow men/women. In many parts of the globe, human rights are actively being violated not only by a certain group of people, but also by governments, whether voted into the system by democracy or by other means. For most of us, we try to help these people by giving aid such as water, food, medical supplies and other commodities to try and lessen their burden. This act in itself is highly commendable and indeed, encouraged. Part of being a Christian is being called to perform our philanthropic duties.
However, my goal as Social Justice officer is to make aware to the community that giving aid alone is not enough. Sending goods to people in need is only a short term solution to the problem. So, what does this mean? A good example would be this. Suppose we witness a man who is beating a child viciously. We've got 2 options. We can either provide the child medical attention or we can stop the act of beating. In our current world, alot of people have already been "beaten" up and there is tremendous support in this area. Unfortunately, the source of the problem, the "beater", is not sufficiently dealt with. In my writings and sessions, I will be dealing with large corporations and governments that commits grievous crimes against humanity. Most importantly, we will learn how, we, the so called "innocent bystanders", play a major role in this. Let's start from the beginning.
Although extremely complex and having multidirectional factors, the environments plays a major role in determining the health and livelihood of a community. The environment is then influenced by the people or the government. Governments inturn decide on policies that are perceived to benefit them in terms of socio-economy or purely just for financial gain. The problem starts when the well being of the people and their rights is trumped by the economic/monetary gains. These economic pressures is therefore decided by global consumers. In other words, our spendings habits has an indirect impact on how our less fortunate brothers and sisters are treated on the other side of the world. One simple example is as below:
When we go to the vegetable section in the supermarket and perhaps buy imported veges, we tend to look for the "prettiest" one, with the biggest and perfect leafs. Unknown to us, not only it may be poisoned with herbicides and pesticides, chances are, the ground in which it grew on is also poisoned by it. This would lead to the contamination of ground water which if consumed, may cause adverse health effects. This is true especially in a developing country where farmers are not informed by their governments of the proper methods to ensure that this does not happen. In fact, the government may even encourage extensive use of these herbicides and pesticides to increase production and therefore profits. More directly, our ignorance of the effects our buying habits can do has lead to the sufferings of others. Of course, this is overly simplified but the issues are there and they are real. Real enough to those dying of poisoning or other related diseases.
This is just a small section which I will be touching upon. So do check the blog regularly. I will be updating you on a fortweekly basis. If there is one thing I would like to impart to you if all things fail, I would like the members to think twice before we buy our products and what we can do to help in our own individual way. Remember, many individuals makes up a community. Many communities makes up a country. Many countries makes up the world. Every individual counts. You are an individual. Make a difference in the world.
Jian Sheng
Social Justice Coordinator
