Blog Action Day

I just found out--in the nick of time--that today is Blog Action Day. Which means that thousands of bloggers write about a common theme.

The theme for this year's Blog Action Day is poverty. Because I just discovered it, I don't have anything organized to say on the topic. However, it is a topic I've preached on in recent weeks, pointing out to my congregation the fact that some 30,000 children die every day due to preventable causes--chief among them, poverty. And I've also signed a petition asking the facilitators of the presidential debates to ask at least one question on global poverty. So far, that hasn't happened, and the last debate is now just a few hours away.

Barack Obama said in his Democratic National Convention speech of a few years back that we are indeed our brother's keeper, our sister's keeper. If someone is suffering thousand miles away, then we are all suffering. Compared to what this nation spends on things like defense or even economic bailout, implementing policies to alleviate poverty around the world would cost almost nothing. Hopefully Obama or McCain (whichever one gets elected) will take a serious look at how the world's wealthiest country can help the world's poorest people.

Because we truly are all in this together.