A Modest Proposal/Jonathan Swift

A Modest Proposal

Jonathan Swift 's A Modest Proposal ' reminds me of the time I visited a developing nation which I would never name for the reason that poverty is a private matter the secrets of which are usually well-guarded by the communities that experience it . Anything that we imagine that we know about others is best known to them . So , poverty is their personal experience , no matter what , and we have no reason to interfere , let alone tell other people about the problems we observed with our gaping eyes . I feel

the same way , by the way , when people in my community mention their personal problems to me . I believe the problems of others must be guarded by us in all sincerity . This is to ensure that the problems would not spread like plagues among members of all communities After all , intelligent people are more sensitive . But , even children start to cry when they see other children crying . Hence , other people 's problems are best forgotten

Life is too rich and joyful to allow for crying spells . To tell the truth , I have read about all least developed nations , including those that are suffering from starvation in our time of abundance . Let us refuse to mention their names lest the dust of their pain flies toward us in its wild ecstasy . With my humble background in economics I have also managed to calculate the risk of poverty that our developed world would face in the event that it truly decides to eradicate poverty across the developing world . What would it take to eradicate poverty Well , first of all , we would have to fight illiteracy so as to help people support themselves with skilled jobs that only we are permitted to take up at present . We are lucky that we are able to learn and earn enough to support ourselves and our families . With a thankful attitude therefore , we should not want to fall into the trap of poverty by helping the poor . What would it cost us to educate the poor and needy It would use up at least thirty percent of our personal incomes - an unbearable fact that I have discovered through thorough studies in economics of development . Besides , the United Nations would become a beggar on the street if it genuinely tries to assist the poor and the needy . Let them assist themselves even if God does not - this is the right path to take ! We need the United Nations to remain wealthy so as to act for us as a lender of last resort , that is , whenever we wish to increase our spending on richer clothing and foreign travels (except in the third world , of course

So as to eradicate poverty , we would additionally have to fight disease in the developing world . I was mistaken when I visited the developing nation I would never name . It was a mistake because I do not want the diseases of the poor to be inflicted on me . It was also a mistake to see the poverty I saw - to tell the truth . I , therefore humbly advise everyone not to visit a developing country . If we have done it before , let us not repeat our follies . It is the mark of intelligence to learn from our mistakes , never to repeat them . Besides if there were any sense in visiting developing countries , the United Nations would have taken over the entire poor regions so as to truly help them out . But , we cannot allow the United Nations to become poor and diseased either , which is the reason why we , having power over the decisions of the United Nations , never advise our lender of last resort to resort to the foolishness of helping the poor

We have all heard it said that poverty in the less developed countries - resulting from various confluent factors - happens to be a consequential problem facing the world . It is an outright lie . We are all happy where we are are we not ? One of the reasons for poverty is poor health , as I suggested before . The opportunity cost of illness is known by health economists as a contribution to the expansion of wealth Is that our problem ? - Certainly not . It is of our business Healthy people add economic value to their nations with high productivity and efficiency . This essentially means that we are better folks overall , destined for paradise . We have helped ourselves , and that is the truth . Unhealthy people , on the contrary , are neither adding to their personal wealth nor contributing to the socioeconomic prosperity of their nations . In other words , they have never given us anything for us to spend our tax dollars on helping them out . Give and take was the rule of the game of life was it not

In all sincerity , I have computed the costs of developing the health systems in the poor nations so as to enable the poor and needy to add value to our world . Fortunately , my calculations suggest that we should never even try to spend on the health of the poor . It would cost us approximately forty percent of our personal incomes just to allow the poor to be attended by doctors in the least developed nations . And , we all know how greedy the poor people could be . In the developing country that I visited , I learned that the poor and needy are greedy for injections and all sorts of medicines . They do not understand the harms or the benefits of silly medicines . Rather , they would like to consume everything that they believe to be of even slightest advantage to their health

The poor would always be poor in terms of intelligence , it seems After tackling the illiteracy and the inefficiencies in their health care systems - if we manage to get that far due to our own stupidity - it would be time for us to end starvation once and for all . In short we would have to pamper the poor and needy if we believe in the lies that poverty in the developing world is adversely affecting the entire globe . In to buy pampers for the poor and the diseased , we would first have to buy milk for them . To feed them we would be using at least twenty percent of our personal incomes , provided that we give them the cheapest food money can buy in the developed world

Thirty plus forty plus twenty is equal to ninety . We would be left with ten percent for ourselves . What are we going to do with ten percent of our personal incomes ? Any wise person 's guess is as good as mine . Yes , we would have to live like the poor in the poorest of countries if we are stupid enough to help them out . Scholars pretend that this is what we ought to do . They are certainly liars , seeing that they do not take the first step either

Hence , I propose the following for the benefit of humanity : stop believing that there are problems in the world or that so-and-so is poor and depressed . If we love our rich and healthy countries , we must stop looking at the problems that are of our business . I may not be a scholar of economics writing peer-reviewed articles , but I do love my fellow beings - beings that I would describe briefly in comparison with non-beings . Humanity only exists in the developed world , for we all know the meaning of being human whereas the poor people of the developing nations are known to live like animals . After all , the kinds of lives they lead are similar to those of jungle beasts . Why else would a human being live on the streets while there is an abundance of bricks and mortar available in the world ? They are clearly stupid . Let us , therefore , stop thinking about them . Have not the positive thinkers and authors already told us to stop musing on the negativity of the world ? We are all responsible for our own wealth and happiness . Let us stop wasting our thinking time on the poor and the stupid . Our time is money after all . This is heaven , and that is not . Let us enjoy our lives on this planet . We have already suffered pain at the time of our individual births . I beg you to consider this fact Works Cited

Swift , Jonathan . A Modest Proposal . 1729 . 11 October 2007

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