A more selfless U.S.

After a four-day Thanksgiving weekend, which includes the biggest shopping day of the year, it's easy to get caught up in the culture of consumerism we all so willingly practice.

But for the more than two billion people in the world who live on less than two dollars a day, the holidays are the same as every other day -- a struggle for survival.

Last Tuesday, the UW chapter of Americans for Informed Democracy (AID) held a town meeting about global poverty.

Specifically, the four speakers on the panel discussed the Millennium Development Goals recently proposed by the United Nations (U.N.) to address the discrepancy in our world between rich and poor countries.

The goals cover a variety of deficiencies; poor maternal health, high child mortality, lack of gender equality, lack of education, and rampant spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.

But in listening to these well-educated, white American men speak, it was easy to forget the reason we were there -- the poor people in other countries.

And that's the reason why so many countries remain poor. We simply forget about them.

Americans are in a strange place. The whole world sees how we act and everything we have, but we don't pay the same amount of attention to the rest of the world.

It's like being on stage. The bright lights are so blinding, the actors can't see the faces of the audience.

We're comfortable acting on the world's stage. Americans are so enthralled with ourselves that we don't care who is watching -- just as long as someone is.

How do we move from being a narcissistic, power-hungry nation to one that advocates economic equality, helps create markets and commerce in poor nations, and provides incentive for trade?

Maybe this is old-fashioned, but the power rests in the citizens. If we decide ending global poverty is important, it's as good as finished.

The U.N.'s eight goals to fight poverty come at the wrong time. They've publicized the solution before most people even know what the problem is.

Don't believe the destitution these countries suffer is entirely their fault - the problem is equally ours if we continue to ignore it.

The first step in the right direction is awareness. Americans are moving back towards isolationism because we care about what happens to us, but not what happens to others. In a post- 9/11 world, we still don't get it -- not everyone is crazy about America.

We haven't narrowed the gap between rich and poor nations. Our image is not improving. In some cases, like when American companies build sweatshops overseas, we're contributing to poverty.

As soon as we understand that others need our help, we have to care about it.

The horrible earthquake in Pakistan was on our radar screen, but we didn't care enough about the plight of those people to help them.

It has nothing to do with "giving fatigue." That's just a buzzword created by the mass media to justify what has happened -- the earthquake abroad killed many more than the hurricanes at home. But because we can't relate to these brown-skinned people who worship another god and wear different clothes and live in huts instead of houses, we didn't care enough to give.

In the end, awareness and empathy mean nothing unless we do something about them.

Even if America is a nation of the world's kindest-hearted people, no action means no difference.

The U.N.'s goals to end poverty are admirable and something to shoot for, but they have overlooked one important thing. To pull poor countries out of poverty takes more than the eight goals on a piece of paper that attendance to Tuesday's town meeting got.

It takes more than four men talking to a small assembly of college students who gave up a Tuesday night.

It takes a selfless America that doesn't yet exist.