Focus on home first
People like George Clooney and others who have done charity work and campaigned to straighten problems out in other countries are admirable human beings, in a way.
It’s very nice and thoughtful of them to want to help people in other countries less fortunate and materialistic than we are.
But I think celebrities and other charitable organizations would do better to focus less on the problems abroad and more on the problems here in this country.
We’ve got plenty of stuff that’s worth worrying about. There’s hunger, poverty, disease and abuse going on everywhere in America, even as I speak (er, I mean write).
Now, I’m sure some celebrities and charitable foundations have good intentions. I’m sure they’re just trying to help people in need, and that’s commendable.
But then you have people like Madonna. She could’ve adopted anybody. There are thousands of needy orphans and youngsters in the United States.
But no, she chose to adopt a kid from a third-world country. I can’t help but think that she and others like her only do stuff like that to be popular with the public.
Trying to influence foreign policy and change the course of a third-world nation’s history all by themselves, people Clooney and Madonna get deeply involved in charity work and community service in the country, and totally neglect their nation of origin.
I mean, look at Angelina Jolie. Just because she’s “fighting the good fight” over in whatever nation it was that she supposedly fought the good fight in, that nation closed itself up and locked down its borders just so she could have a kid in it.
This is not the kind of world I want to live in.
I promised myself a few years back that if I ever achieve fame and fortune as a writer, I will donate a good chunk of my income to charities.
And don’t be mistaken, there are foreign charities on my list. I’ll donate to any charity that’s into saving wildlife or setting up wildlife preserves in Africa or elsewhere, in particular.
Foremost on my list of charities, however, are homegrown ones like the Salvation Army, animal rescue organizations and various child nutrition and education funds.
Kudos to all the persons out there (famous or not) that donate money to foreign causes and campaign for political reform in totalitarian states.
But a pox on the people that prefer donating to foreign countries over their own. That goes double for people who do it for the recognition and attention-getting.
The celebrities who adopt third-world kids to suck up to the American people’s popular sympathies deserve a swift kick in the behind, in my opinion.
We’ve got plenty of homegrown problems here in the U.S., like hunger, poverty and illness.
Let’s not neglect everyone in America who is homeless, starving, uneducated, disadvantaged, or disabled. Let’s help them first, and then worry about those abroad.
Andrew is a senior studying mass-communication.
Columnists' opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of The Spectrum