The first article provides a staggering perspective on the degree of poverty and hunger which is an everyday reality in the third world. The picture of mothers making a choice between their sons and daughters, deciding who will live and who will die, is enough to impress the grimness of the situation on anyone. If statistics are sometimes hard to comprehend and convert into meaningful understanding, this article provides a very real and very emotional description of what numbers might mean on the personal level. While I agree with Ryan on the immense weight of this experience and the impossibility of any of us to truly comprehend what it must be like, I think it speaks in a way that a number of dead on a battlefield cannot -- it gives us an example of the actual thoughts and pain which must pass through these individuals' heads.

The second article, focusing on poverty in the United States, takes a much more practical and statistical approach. Though its numbers are certainly alarming -- 11.9 million Americans went hungry in 2007 -- we are not given the same close and personal view of the problem. However, the article continues to impress the gravity of poverty -- it's not just a third-world issue, it's happening in staggering proportions right here in the United States.

These articles cast a negative light on the allocation of relief funds by the Spanish government described in the third article. While it is certainly important to build the infrastructure of international organizations, and the UN Human Rights Council is likely an appropriate target for relief funding, using aid funds for a $14 million painting is unacceptable. If the money were used simply to build the necessary headquarters for the council, funds intended for relief might be appropriate. However, a $14 million ceiling is an expression of decadence which is s distinctly unethical use of money clearly not intended for this purpose. When experts believe that "hunger can be conquered" and relief funding can provide mass quantities of valuable, nutritious food products like "Medika Mamba", there is no excuse for using aid funding for such a misguided purpose.