"No one has made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little."

I attended the Hunger Banquet last Friday, and my brother John came with me. And I must say, many people here need to attend it. It puts so much in perspective; I love it.

When we got there, they randomly sorted us into either high income (greater than $9,000 a year per capita), middle income ($911-$9,000 a year per capita), or lower income (less than $911 a year) according to real world proportions. I was placed in the largest group, the lower income. We sat on the floor. Middle income got chairs, and the high income (which you are in if you are reading this on a computer) got chairs, tables, place settings, etc.

For dinner, the low income were given plate with 6-8 tortillas, some beans and rice to a group of about 10 people. Oh yes, and half a glass of water to each person. No utensils, napkins, or anything.

It was very humbling to see that more than half of the entire world population (I think it's about 60%) lives in such conditions. They do not have even have any of the luxuries we enjoy. I would report what the middle and high income groups were served, but I was on the floor and could not see.

Low income is 60% of the world, middle is 25%, and high income is 15%. I heard a statistic once that if you have more than one pair of shoes, you are in the top 10% of wealthiest people in the world.

Part of me would like to do a field study now just to see these conditions in real life and see what I can do to help. I did join a joint club between BYU and UVSC (soon to be UVU) for promoting peace in Darfur. So we'll see where that goes.

There was entertainment from the Spanish Fork Hare Krishna temple that I thoroughly enjoyed. They played tranditional Hindu/Indian songs as well as offered prayers. Also, a dance that I saw last semester was performed that I love called "The People's Evolution." Amazing work. And a mariachi band performed as well.

Oh yes, and the infamous Dr. Valerie Hudson addressed the attendees as the keynote speaker, and she's always amazing. She discussed the condition and role of women in correlation with raising government standards, ethics, and general living standards as a whole. It was very interesting.

And I'm sure I bored you a great deal today, but I thought it was fascinating and had a great time. I'll close this blog with two of my favorite quotes that I heard at the Hunger Banquet.

"Refuse to be a victim. Refuse to be a perpetrator. Refuse to be a bystander."

"No one has made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little."

Apparently China's Ego and Self-esteem Are Fragile

I was just going around checking my daily websites, myspace and facebook and such. When I logged into AOL I noticed a headline that caught my attention.

"Bjork Broke Chinese Law?"

And I thought to myself, "Oh dang, what eccentricities are unacceptable in China...?"

I went on to read the article. She was performing in Shanghai on March 2 (last Sunday), and apparently at her concert she dedicated her song "Declare Independence" to Tibet. She knew, I'm quite sure, that her dedication would be controversial. But I know she didn't know that she would get this reaction from the Chinese Minister of Culture:

"[Bjork] broke Chinese law and hurt Chinese people's feelings."

Seriously? She hurt your feelings?

Is this coming from the same government that sought to completely alter Chinese culture? Communist indeed.

So now they are considering tightening restrictions on music artists that are allowed to perform in China, and Bjork may face being banned from China completely. I may be sounding too American, but dang, cry me a freaking river, Chinese government, for having an idea introduced in your country that may be contrary to what propoganda you want in and what you want out.

In fact, Mao would be ashamed of you right now! You should never have let her perform in the first place! GAH! New ideas NEVER contribute to progress or change, EVER. Get it together, China. Good-NESS.

Here is a link to her song. She has also dedicated it to the new independent state Kosovo. You can listen by pressing one of the play buttons by an entry in the list of songs. http://search.playlist.com/tracks/bjork%2520declare%2520independence

(All information on this came from this article http://www.spinner.com/2008/03/08/bjork-broke-chinese-law/ )