Doctors Without Borders

by Pa Rock
Citizen of the World

I receive an email version of a Zogby Poll every few weeks. These polls focus on different topics - everything from politics, to health care, to shopping habits - and a demographic section is included with each poll. The demographic section is used by the survey to show basically what categories I fall into. It asks my age, educational level, the size of community that I live in, political affiliation and degree of political enthusiasm, and other similar factors. One question that is asked each time in the demographic section of the poll is this: Do you consider yourself primarily a citizen of your community, your state, your nation, or the planet Earth. My answer is always that I regard myself as a citizen of the planet Earth.

It's easy to talk the talk, but I also try to back up my words with deeds. Throughout the years I have given money to CARE, a habit that began when I was in elementary school and one of my teachers would ask each student to bring in a dollar. She would then send the thirty dollars or so to CARE, and a couple of weeks later we would get a nice letter telling us where our money had gone. I got into the habit of occasionally sending a dollar on my own, and always looked forward to learning what country that my money was helping. I was just a child - but I felt like I was doing the work of an adult.

Today my favorite international charity is Doctors Without Borders, an organization that brings free medical care to the most remote corners of the world. This non-profit that does the work of saints won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. I made my first contribution in the winter of 2004 when I heard that Doctors Without Borders had boots on the ground helping the survivors of the great Tsunami almost before the waters had receded. Early the following year I set up a monthly payment from my checking account and have contributed on that basis ever since.

I feel that it's important that we all recognize and respect our global inter-connectedness. Things like famines, plagues, global warming, environmental disasters, and suffering know no borders - and neither must humanitarian aid. We are all members of the same race - the human race - and those of us who are blessed with privilege and resources need to be ready to share - and borders be damned!