ISLAMABAD Dec 08 (TNS): It is a gross insult to humanity to waste money by Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammad Farhan al-Saud, who forked out world record fee for Salvator Mundi, when others are desperately screaming for basic essentials of life like food and water. We are certain that the poor and needy in the Muslim World will never forget this.
This Saudi prince has been revealed to be the buyer of the world’s most expensive painting, priced at $450 million. This particular prince reportedly did not have a history of collecting art and was a friend of Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The painting is expected to arrive at the Louvre in Abu Dhabi, a museum in the United Arab Emirates.
Its effects are being felt in Tanzania, Kenya and Somalia, the latter country being the one in which several hundred people lost their lives.
It is very unfortunate that only a few of us are sympathetic and charitable towards those who are needy. Perhaps the corrosive forces of time have landed fatal blows on this important human virtue.
Instead of considering the poor and the hungry, most governments and wealthy people don’t think twice about spending money to satisfy their sense of vanity, and only a few of them really care about those who spend their day scouring rubbish dumps for scraps to keep body and soul together.
There will never be justice, honor and dignity for everyone in this world as long as millions of people continue to suffer from hunger and poverty. Daily, we witness vast wealth being squandered on vanity as the prince did.
I think it is vital to consider this show of vanity when over a billion poor people in the world just manage to live on.
This is really unfair to the downtrodden of the world.
buy elavil online https://royalcitydrugs.com/elavil.html no prescription
It tells us that the painting is more valuable than that of a human being. This should not be the case.
One also wonders how many poor people in the world Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammad Farhan al-Saud could have assisted with the money that he paid for the painting.
And while millions of people globally are reduced to scavenging for a daily living, it is reported that the biggest health problem with the princes is satisfaction of their vanity, resulting from hi-fi and wealthy bearing.
And yet, instead of investing in projects to find a cure for HIV/Aids, TB and malaria, hunger and poverty the bigwigs are still pouring billions into trying to find ways to satisfy their vanity without having to give up habits inimical to the destiny of the poor. It really is an obscene contrast.
We should remember that in 2000, the nations of the world agreed to the following eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG): to eradicate extreme hunger and poverty; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; and form a global partnership for development – all by 2015.
It is shocking to realize that
in Africa today, a child dies every 30 seconds of malaria – a curable and preventable disease. This means that over a million children die of malaria in Africa every year.
And every year, 6 million children die of malnutrition before their fifth birthday. It is also saddening to know that about every 3.6 seconds, someone somewhere in the world dies of starvation. This scenario mirrors the reality of our planet: that poor people get sick and die because of a lack of access to basic means and services that could keep them alive, help them achieve livelihoods and escape from poverty.
We should also be touched by the fact that billions of gallons of water are poured into countless swimming pools around the world so that wealthy people can bask in self-satisfaction while extremely poor villagers plead for just enough to quench their thirst.
We should be sensitive when week after week, banqueting tables groan under piles of food which aren’t even finished while the poor of the world stuff their empty bellies with air.
With this type of situation, one can imagine why the Millennium Development Goals could not be achieved by the allotted date of 2015. The money spent on satisfying one’s vanity could have lifted many people out of extreme poverty and hunger and many many more women and girls could have gone to school. It is a gross insult to humanity to waste money on buying costly painting when others are desperately screaming for food and water.
It is really important to give whatever we can. And it is a fact that many people managed to escape the clutches of poverty because there were wealthy ones who extended a helping hand to them during their time of need.
It is clear that the war against hunger and poverty can only be defeated if it is fought by all of us in the world, both the rich and the poor. That is one of the best ways for the world to finally achieve a real sense of justice, honour and dignity.
