Am i being selfish???

Question

when i wonder why Americans seem to care more about other countries problems before we care about our own. I understand and feel for countries whose people are starving, homeless, sick and dying etc.. but we have the same problems right here in the USA

so what if we spend more on social problems, welfare and medical research than ANY other country in the world are problems are still here! would you go out and give your last piece of bread to your neighbor if your kids would starve? and yes i volunteer at an outreach ministry we help provide food and shelter for the homeless. (most of this is directed to R.J.)

Answer 1

wow i have been thinking the exact same thing. I mean its good america is helping others but we need help to

Answer 2

Things in some countries are MUCH worse than they are in the U.S. Here, people don't live in constant fear of being persecuted. True, we have poverty, illness, homelessness etc. But it is impossible to completely solve everything. Whereas many of the problems in the Third World have an easy solution. For example, malnutrition and malaria are major problems in the Third World. Both these can be treated and fixed if the countries simply had the money to do so. We still need to address problems in other parts of the world and cooperate to fix them. If we adopt an "every nation for it's own" mentality, the world would be a chaotic and miserable place.

Answer 3

What are you talking about?

We spend more on social problems, welfare and medical research than ANY other country in the world. We also have the highest rate of charitable contributions in the world.

Or is it just "caring" you're talking about? Well, I don't see many people standing in line to give their OWN time to "help" Just complaining as they continue paying TAXES about how little evryone ELSE "cares" WHERE are all these STARVING children you're talking about? Show me proof of more than an occasional crack mom abandoning her kids or the rare skilled homeless person. DRUG ABUSE is the problem of homelessness and Americans refuse to deal with THAT problem. It just gets lumped into the "not caring" liberal rant that you are learning very quickly.

"Caring" does no one any good. MONEY and WORK do...quit caring and start DOING something if you care so much.

Answer 4

No hon, You are NOT being selfish. Many of us ask the same question.

The problem lies with our churches. MINISTER IS A VERB AS WELL AS A NOUN. They are suppose to be helping our needy and homeless and such. And while quite a few of them do. Most only show up on Sunday and some on Wednesday and the church doors are locked tight with no one able to find anyone in or about the Church.. The pastor lives across town and sells insurance on the side, or does another full time job..

WHY???? Because the Church members won`t pay their tithes. The tithes are suppose to go towards supporting the pastor and family. So He or She can be there with doors open for the folks who need him..

They don`t actually go into the community and MINISTER to anyone anymore.. It is so sad...

God bless & Hugs from Texas. {:-)
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Answer 5

Yes you are being selfish. Not trying to be mean or anything, but as bad as some things are in this country (urban environment, education, lower class etc) they are nowhere near the level of problems that exist in other countries. Good point though. Why should we care at all about those other countries?

Answer 6

No, you aren't being selfish. I don't know why the American public isn't more concerned with the poverty, hunger, sick, dying people that we have right here in our own country. We probably can't compare the people here that need help to people in Africa - but regardless they still need help the same way anyone else does.
There should be more programs in place to help the people in America. Another thing that we need is to start encouraging people to adopt babies from America. There are so many children in America that need homes, but for whatever reason people decide to adopt kids from other countries.

Answer 7

Well, if you are being selfish, then so am I. Because I have the same questions. I was brought up thinking that charity begins at home, but yet here in America, there a children starving and living out in the streets.

Answer 8

No, you're not being selfish.
There are alot of reasons why the US helps other countries before helping its own citizens, most of them political and economical. A good deal of it is because the US doesn't want to look bad or cheap in the eyes of the global community because when it comes time for the US to call in favors, we want to look like someone people want to help. It's also cheaper to help less developed countries than it is to help people here.

Answer 9

Most of us think that we are more privileged than other countries because even though we have the deprived and the sick, we have federal aid and other charity programs (Soup Kitchen... St. Jude Children's Hospital... etc.) But yeah... you're right, we have our own problems in the US. I guess we like to meddle in other country's business because it's sympathy or the Big Brother Complex... I think it's really a little bit of both.

Answer 10

You're not being selfish at all. There is nothing wrong with wanting to take care of the problems right in front of you rather than those of others. In fact, that would enable your advice and help to be more credible, having already taken care of your own problems. However, it is harder for most people (and countries) to admit their own faults and needs and thus it is harder to deal with them.

Answer 11

We care more about other countries problems because we only see the poor starving children. We know nothing about what caused the problem.