Imagine walking down a narrow dirt road, passing rows and rows of crippled plantations. The broken clouds open the sunlight which beats down on your face. Your arms become numb, so you lower the five gallons of water from your head. A few seconds pass and you elevate the water back above your head. Five more miles, that’s it. Just five more. Your feet ache, but you keep on pushing. The sweat from you face drowns you eyes, but you keep going. The pain in your knees beg you to stop, but you keep trotting. The Voices in your head persuade your body to keep on moving.

Now I have a question for you. When was the last time you had to worry about water? Have you ever had to walk 20 miles for a few gallons of water? We, most Americans, take necessities for granted. We forget that people struggle with these issues every day. The fact is that over 80% of the world population lives on less than 10 dollars a day (Poverty). An average American makes around 100 dollars a day; that’s 10 times the amount that 5.68 billion people make (U.S). How can our world be so disjointed? How can we let our world become so separate? The answer, well...

One day I was sitting in my English class and my teacher asked the class to write down something that irked you. Something that really steamed your veggies (Haley Funk). My first thought was the place of third world countries. Humans in these parts of the world are destitute; they don’t have the Voice to jeer themselves out from a hole. They are Powerless and have no way out. They fight for survival, yet parish on their journey. They fantasize a new world, but never see the end.  They long for world, a life where they can thrive, not just survive.

I thought to myself “Why?” Why is our world the way it is? Why are people deprived of the necessities of life? Why don’t people have the Voice to transform our world? What I imagine is Money=Power=Voice. And these words are the same, they are interchangeable, they are equal.

Who has the Power to change the world? When you have Money, you have the Power to change; you have the Voice to make a difference. Whether these changes today are good or bad, they all come from the same people. Past and present leaders of America have all had the Power to shape our country.  What do all these leaders have in common?: Money. With Money comes the Power. With Power comes the Voice.

The citizens of the third world countries are the exact opposite of the leaders of America. They lack one thing, the most important thing: Money. Without the Money, there cannot be Power. Without the Power there cannot be Voice. No wonder our world is so disjointed. All the people with Voice only care about themselves and what is best for them.

Now imagine walking down a paved road with shoes on your feet. But not just any shoes, these shoes are the cool boots, the ones that everyone has. You walk into school seeing all your friends, laughing out loud. You trot from class to class, complaining each step and behind every teachers lecture, is a snide comment from the students: “Ugh school is so boring.” “Why can’t we just stay home everyday?” “What is the point of learning all of this useless information?” School is finally over and you can go home. You pull out an ice cold water and bag of chips, then make your way to the coach to watch some T.V. After a few mindless hours of T.V and homework, is a list of chores: clean your room, take out the trash, set the table. Well at least you have home with a room, water, food, and family. Not everyone is so lucky to be able to have all the necessities and luxuries.

So the next time you complain about too much homework, cleaning your room, or doing the dishes, just think. Think about the starving, underprivileged people who have to walk 20 miles everyday for water. Do they have a Voice? Do you have a Voice?

"Poverty Facts and Stats." - Global Issues. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Sept. 2014.

"U.S. Government Info - Resources." About. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Sept. 2014.