Connecting Beyond Our Scope “Indians, Chinese, don’t eat! Let US eat well!” On the second of May, 2008, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice highlighted on India’s and China’s moral and social responsibility regarding world food crisis. The above quote was not directly stated by Rice but the following phrase was: “Eat less to feed the world.” Rice’s speech was praised by both American government and attracted many people around the globe. Ironically, a month after Rice’s dramatic claim, FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations) released a report, which showed that US consumption of rice, wheat, corn, etc. have increased 11.8% over the last year. This was nearly four times that of India’s (2.2%) and China’s (1.8%) combined. For instance, when one hoses his garden, does she always think of how much water she is using? When one buys a Hummer, does he care about destroying the ozone layer? When leave your food, do you think of children who starve to death every three seconds? The answer to these questions is most likely “no” to an average individual because a basic notion goes “you benefit, I benefit, we both benefit” or “I’ll do what I want since I earned it through time and effort.” This notion is perfectly legitimate. But the problem is that individuals fail to connect and factor in those forces that are outside their boundaries. These failures may be minute in terms of a single individual. However, when the failures of individuals pile up, the problem becomes significant enough to impact the world. As America celebrated Thanksgiving on November 26, 2004, a study by the University of Arizona and USDA (US department of agriculture) discovered that Americans discard nearly 40% of unconsumed food each year. The most startling thing was that even Americans were not aware of this fact. I believe that by lessening selfish notion and connecting beyond our scope, Americans have the capability to fix this “paradox of affluences.” Works Cited...