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Heroes of Compassion With much fanfare, President Clinton held a weekend summit in Philadelphia earlier this year in order to discuss volunteerism. The participants talked a lot and made many self-righteous pronouncements. As usual, when politicians are involved, very little real substance came from the meetings. Many of our high schools and colleges are requiring that students do a certain number of hours of "volunteer" work. The last time I looked, Webster defined a volunteer as "one who offers himself for a service of his own free will." Requiring students to do public service could do some good, but calling it volunteerism when it is coerced activity -- just like any other required class -- is absurd. I seriously doubt this will foster life-long volunteerism. It becomes another job that must be done, rather than something done out of caring and compassion. Similarly, the corporate world expects its employees to volunteer. It is part of building the resume rather than something done out of the goodness of the soul. If you work in an office, try resisting a "donation" to the annual United Way campaign and see what kind of grief you get. The United Way is worthy of support, but something is wrong when compassion is forced on you. Either the people don't care or the government, schools, and fund-raising organizations are taking the wrong approach. I believe it to be the latter. True compassion comes when people live their lives to the best of their ability and look to provide first for themselves and their families. More good comes from individuals minding their own business than from trying to solve everyone else's problems. A great example is the farmer. Working hand-in-hand, the farmers, food processors, and scientists have created what many have called, "The Green Revolution." These people have increased the world's food supply at a much faster rate than the population has grown. The result is a world wide decrease in famine and starvation. While the population of the world doubled over the last fifty years, food production tripled. Ronald Bailey in his book, Ecoscam, points out that the United States alone has seen astronomical growth rates in the yield of grain crops over the last forty years. Corn increased 220%. Wheat increased 107%. Soybean yield went up by 60%, and sorghum skyrocketed by 275%. Bailey further points out that the trends are world wide, "since the 1970's, world wheat yields are up 36%, rice up 38% and coarse grains, e.g., corn and sorghum are up 30%." This remarkable growth shows no signs of slowing. The only barrier to the virtual elimination of starvation is not "greedy agribusiness men," but politicians and despots who withhold food from their people. This was the case in Ethiopia in the late 1980's and Somalia in the 1990's. By rolling up his sleeves and working in the fields, elevators, and food processing plants from daylight to dark, the agribusiness man is truly a hero of compassion. He doesn't protest, beg others to give him money, or pass laws to empower himself. Through his hard work and innovation, he meets more basic needs for the people than any politician or activist. Governments and social workers make promises. However, the farmer taking care of his own family, has done far more good. So, farmers, the next time you have to get up to string irrigation pipe at 5:00 in the morning or stay on the combine until way past dark, put smiles on your faces. Somewhere in the world, a small child is smiling with you because they have a full belly, due to your efforts. As for the rest of us, the next time we are driving through the country and get mad because that big combine is blocking the road, remember that the man driving that combine is a true unsung hero. |
