Friday, June 23, 2006

Gary Ritch

Sometimes it seems as though life on these Islands is a constant stream of fundraisers, and no organization ever has enough money to buy all the things on its wish list.

Tuesday of this week, however, was World Refugee Day, a day for the international community to focus on some of the most desperate people on the planet, for whom the main goal of the day is to stay alive.

When our own refugee problem appears, in the form of hungry and thirsty Cuban migrants, often in overcrowded pathetic vessels, there is always an outpouring of sympathy by the people who witness these events.

The plight of these refugees sparks the natural humanity of the people here, but the truth is that there is a great deal of suffering in the world that is very easy to forget about, living, as we do, on these safe, peaceful and relatively prosperous Islands.

Many of the children, in particular, accumulate vast quantities of toys, Pokemon cards and video games, without ever being reminded how lucky they are or asked to make a charitable gesture.

Children are often naturally compassionate and generous when faced with the misery of others, as they demonstrated in various toy collections for kids in Grand Cayman after Hurricane Ivan.

Perhaps our PTAs or schools or individual classrooms could hold at least one fundraiser each year for children in desperate need in far off places, rather than for them or their school or their youth group.

In this way we could, as a community, sow the seeds of charity in the young people of these Islands.

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