Four score and seven years ago, the early leaders of the American democracy said some really amazing things about poverty, freedom, and the value of democracy. (Ok, it was now technically longer ago than that, but I am sticking with the Abraham Lincoln theme here!)
As the United States gets ready to light firecrackers and celebrate its Independence Day, I wanted to share a few pearls of wisdom applicable to the whole world - in twitter-sized anecdotes - from the dudes (and ladies!) who created this more perfect union in which I live.
1. “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.”
These words from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address really remind me that global citizens can’t make a change in the world just by throwing around words like ‘sustainability’ and ‘peace’. Everyone has to go a step further and ‘walk the talk’. Being a global citizen isn’t just about being aware of the issues of extreme poverty, it is also about committing to do something about it.
2. “Poverty, therefore, is a thing created by that which is called civilized life. It exists not in the natural state.”
Just last month, I got to visit Thomas Paine’s cottage which is a bit north of New York City. In Agrarian Justice, Paine argues in favor of estate taxes (womp womp) to fund pensions for the elderly. His argument is that that to whom much is given much is due. Even back in the 1700s, it was clear to Paine that addressing inequality was key to ending poverty.
3. “The object is to bring into action that mass of talents which lies buried in poverty in every country, for want of the means of development.”
Thomas Jefferson understood back in 1817 that every person, regardless of where they are born, should have access to education. He believed that the government played a key role in ensuring that even people living in poverty were able to go to school.
In 2015, his dream is yet to be actualized around the world. 58 million kids around the world are denied access to basic education and 31 million of them are girls. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done to ensure that all kids can go to school.
4. “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
Who doesn’t love Benjamin Franklin? Like Jefferson, Franklin recognized that all children should be able to go to school. Education is an investment in the future of our children, our countries, and our world. A recent study highlighted that every additional year of schooling increases a person’s earnings by 10%. And, each extra year of a mother’s schooling reduces infant mortality by 5% to 10%!
5. “It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”
I sure wish there existed a term more gender inclusive than ‘founding fathers’ but, you know, #patriarchy.
Eleanor Roosevelt came around many years after the American Revolutionary War, but I’ve always loved this quote. Instead of bemoaning the fact that extreme poverty still exists, everyone should be celebrating the progress the world has made and doing everything possible to do more. The number of people living in extreme poverty was halved between 1990 and 2010. And now, young people today are the first generation that can see the end of extreme poverty within our lifetimes.
The world needs your voice to bring these lofty ideas to modern reality. A big first step is signing the petition to support the Global Partnership for Education in TAKE ACTION NOW.