Making The World Better- General Ideas

Although it may come as no surprise to you, making the world better is more important now than ever before. Despite millennia of wars over land, political rule, class, race, and wealth, mankind has never had such a unique opportunity to make such a global change happy in one united spirit.

While that may seem like a completely ludicrous idea, take heart and know that if you start in small ways, soon your efforts can grow to immense size, and indeed envelop the whole world.

It sounds overly simple, and it is to a degree, but the first way that you can start making the world better is by giving. Obviously, this is true, but it doesn’t have to mean large amounts of money to an international charity organization. In fact, the best way to give is to do it within your community to people or organizations where you will see the greatest impact.

The more you see your change happen, the more you will believe that you have the power to make it happen. Whether it be a church, school, or youth center, you will feel good knowing that your small donation is working to improve people’s lives. If you can’t give money, you can always give your time, which is sometimes even more important.

Forgiveness is an act that when performed on a global scale will indeed begin making the world better for everyone. To some, this may sound ridiculous, but you choose the crop you grow by the seeds you sow.

If you want to find happiness in your life, you have to let go of the things that make you unhappy, even if it means being the humble one and not asking for apologies. Positivity radiates outwards and begins to change the way people see you, and then how they see themselves, and then how they see the world. That’s a big deal.

Helping Afghanistan- Find Out What You Can Do To Help

As United States diplomacy continues to spread across the globe, and the war in the Middle East finally subsides, Americans are becoming more interested in helping Afghanistan establish their new democracy. As a country that is at its earliest stages of new political and social growth, they will need all the help they can get. Not only are they rebuilding their identity in the eyes of the world, but they also need to rebuild their cities and work towards instituting a new order of government, economy, and industry.

This will take time, but with contributions from other non-partisan countries only interested in the well-being of the citizens, it will be time well spent.

Obviously, if you are interested in helping Afghanistan then you can make a monetary donation to any of the several charity organizations that have been established to aid in this cause.

For instance, ARYA sells semi-precious stone jewelry and embroidered shirts and bags and gives one hundred percent of their proceeds to the aid of orphans and widows in Afghanistan. Similarly, there is a non-profit organization called Help the Afghan Children which is aimed solely at empowering the children of the fledgling democracy through academic development.

JAHAN, which means universe, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-political, humanitarian organization that is also dedicated to helping save the women and children of this war-stricken nation. The name is also a acronym that stands for Join And Help Afghanistan Now.

Of course, you can always give food, clothing, and monetary donations to large, international charity organizations. The Red Cross immediately comes to mind, as does other health organizations like Partners in Health. You can also give to the United Way which is a volunteer-led, nonprofit organization that seeks to right issues at their roots. These are great avenues for helping Afghanistan become a nation created by the people.

Economic Cost of War in Afghanistan

The War in Afghanistan has cost U.S. Tax payers $172 billion to date, with a request for roughly $13.4 billion to fund the war through the remainder of Fiscal year 2009 expected in March or April. This brings the total cost through FY 2009 to $185.1 billion.

This figures reflect the budgetary cost alone.  Projected costs over the long term are likely to total more than half a trillion dollars when future occupation and veteran’s benefits are taken into account.  Interest payments could add another $200 billion to that figure.1 All told, this is more than the size of the recent bailout of Wall Street, and rivals the historic economic stimulus bill just passed by Congress.

Countries outside the United States have spent additional billions on the War in Afghanistan, with the UK contributing roughly £4.5billion2 and the cost to Canada totaling $7.7 billion to $10.5 billion in Canadian dollars through 2008.3

Consider that the US spends a mere $100 million per year, or less than one percent of the yearly cost of the Afghanistan war, to assist refu
Iraq War Costs

$656.1 Billion in budgetary costs so far

with another $53.6 expected by the end of FY 2009.

At least $2 trillion in future costs including Veteran’s benefits

Over 4200 US deaths

Hundreds of Thousands of Civilian Iraqi Deaths.

Will Afghanistan be the Next Iraq?

gees and returnees from Afghanistan through the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM).4

Also consider that the cost of building a new school with twelve classrooms, one office, and a store in Kabul, Afghanistan, is roughly $128,000 in US dollars.  [That's 1.4 billion schools]. The cost of one set of science lab equipment is a mere $1500, and for $4000, 100 students can have chairs and desks.5

[An xx bed orthopedic hospital can be constructed and operated for $ per year.  The operating cost of the Malalai Clinic, which serves Afghan refugees, is $  per year.]

The War in Afghanistan has cost U.S. Tax payers $185.1 billion through FY 2009, and the projected costs are likely to total more than half a trillion dollars when future occupation and veteran’s benefits are taken into account.  This does not include interest on that money.  The following table shows the cost to each state of the budgetary costs to date, the number of goods and services that could have been provided with that money, and the number of US soldiers’ lives lost.

Cost of the War in Afghanistan through 1st part of FY 2009 Number of Head Start Places for Children that Could Have Been Provided for One Year Number of People Who Could have been Provided with Health Care for One Year Number of Homes that Could Have Been Provided With Renewable Electricity for One Year Number of US Soldiers Killed as of February 7, 2009.
United States $185,100,000,000 25,401,400 54,554,136 191,626,198 641*
Alabama $1,695,823,827 263,286 706,802 1,251,759 7
Alaska $316,758,736 40,568 44,517 441,579 2
Arizona $2,548,440,101 327,985 575,800 2,183,288 15
Arkansas $1,733,678,138 292,752 1,146,431 1,448,635 4
California $23,448,026,946 2,804,788 9,650,903 41,778,565 64
Colorado $2,829,589,493 411,098 861,369 3,729,874 10
Connecticut $4,520,454,101 627,492 1,493,526 5,581,262 4
Delaware $1,160,149,520 183,539 314,481 1,033,849 1
District Of Columbia $794,748,971 108,900 203,371 1,406,301 2
Florida $10,155,302,035 1,385,633 3,583,154 7,141,995 41
Georgia $5,339,650,726 753,124 1,358,365 4,165,339 14
Hawaii $598,503,707 80,617 199,745 996,411 2
Idaho $503,093,132 65,790 138,667 416,579 2
Illinois $10,022,950,884 1,483,563 4,186,854 13,328,822 24
Indiana $2,818,419,476 421,540 834,872 2,678,779 19
Iowa $1,401,487,354 211,929 419,432 1,576,943 5
Kansas $1,460,527,795 241,689 467,071 1,503,564 7
Kentucky $1,421,229,890 214,137 391,762 1,143,898 12
Louisiana $1,409,205,801 213,937 420,412 1,020,971 11
Maine $498,238,248 71,391 156,832 764,962 9
Maryland $3,587,385,623 480,947 704,493 3,330,411 14
Massachusetts $5,230,269,414 625,630 1,567,587 8,154,713 20
Michigan $4,918,511,541 743,539 1,849,329 6,912,722 16
Minnesota $4,445,237,024 644,891 1,278,745 5,102,475 4
Mississippi $720,250,435 120,062 161,997 533,183 7
Missouri $2,822,631,534 418,540 1,059,853 2,464,255 16
Montana $283,468,258 40,072 50,968 308,456 3
Nebraska $1,330,903,314 189,560 366,401 1,251,983 5
Nevada $1,658,155,322 190,155 380,079 1,505,750 11
New Hampshire $756,831,513 93,286 199,835 1,056,005 5
New Jersey $8,454,941,784 966,169 776,393 11,835,091 11
New Mexico $563,434,064 81,151 150,522 881,297 4
New York $16,604,935,101 1,891,869 3,062,184 31,087,896 35
North Carolina $5,010,306,242 679,917 1,073,032 3,974,857 22
North Dakota $223,352,958 30,935 68,637 193,650 4
Ohio $6,492,364,218 1,010,799 2,301,163 7,271,070 16
Oklahoma $2,811,546,620 472,529 1,394,319 2,339,751 11
Oregon $1,490,617,018 223,113 303,262 1,401,189 13
Pennsylvania $7,058,104,579 1,106,286 1,743,190 8,488,396 27
Rhode Island $741,108,717 106,696 252,616 1,261,947 -
South Carolina $1,356,608,605 203,603 727,162 984,439 14
South Dakota $281,510,858 42,737 110,867 273,097 3
Tennessee $2,853,930,995 396,434 595,682 2,113,088 10
Texas $15,139,700,220 2,170,255 3,457,279 11,529,534 36
Utah $993,019,323 146,701 339,308 1,214,670 8
Vermont $269,138,174 31,147 88,277 402,482 1
Virginia $5,013,381,052 699,216 1,403,805 4,138,048 15
Washington $4,203,255,003 473,820 666,792 3,744,373 17
West Virginia $505,482,262 76,798 158,890 444,314 11
Wisconsin $2,952,074,297 444,590 1,903,336 3,600,501 8
Wyoming $317,711,692 46,531 86,502 336,320 3

*Total number of soldiers killed as part of Operation Enduring Freedom from March 19, 2001, through February 7, 2009.  http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/castop.htm  accessed February 16, 2009. Total includes 16 soldiers from US Territories.