Editorial

One child dies every three seconds in the world because of the effects of poverty. Many die of starvation or the lack of simple medicines to treat diseases.

What can the rest of the world do to save the lives of these children? That was one of the topics of discussion at the Group of Eight (G8) Summit held last week in Scotland.

I happened to be traveling in Ireland the week before the G8 summit. There seemed to be a great deal of interest in G8, perhaps more than in the United States. A peaceful rally of 10,000 people was held in Dublin, urging the G8 leaders to help get rid of poverty. Leading the march were two Catholic archbishops.

Make Poverty History. Similar marches were held in other cities as part of the "Make Poverty History" campaign. This is a coalition of charities, churches, and other groups seeking to bring an end to poverty. One of the leaders of this campaign is Bono of the musical group, U2, which happened to be playing in Dublin during my stay there. "Live 8" concerts were held in several cities to encourage G8 leaders to change policies on global poverty.

Pope Benedict XVI himself seemed to be supporting the goals of this campaign. He had appealed to summit participants to reduce the debt of poorer countries and to foster "authentic development" in Africa, a continent he said is "often overlooked."

The pope said he hoped the G-8 summit would enjoy full success by having nations agree to share "in solidarity, the costs of debt reduction, to enact concrete measures for the eradication of poverty, and promote authentic development in Africa."

Leaders listened. It seems that the G-8 leaders listened. They did approve doubling of aid for Africa, along with plans to cancel $40 billion in debt owed by the world's poorest countries; provide universal access to treatment for AIDS and other diseases; improve education; bolster an African peacekeeping force; and work toward a deal to end trade-distorting subsidies that hurt Africa.

In return, African countries must make commitments to fight corruption and promote democracy, human rights, and rule of law.

"The world spoke out and the politicians listened," said Bono after the summit. "Now, if the world keeps an eye out, they will keep their promises."

What can we do? So what can we Americans do? Citizens of our country have proven to be very generous. We responded with an outpouring of support for the victims of the tsunami disaster. I think we can help make poverty a thing of the past, too.

A recent poll taken at the University of Maryland revealed that a majority of Americans are willing to pay slightly higher taxes to increase foreign aid. We must let President George W. Bush and our elected representatives know we support the G8 summit policies.

Americans do care. We want to save the lives of poor children. We want to help make poverty a thing of the past. It may take some sacrifice but it will be worth tightening our belts a little to help others in need around the world.

Mary C. Uhler, editor

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Human life is ended in abortion

To the editor:

When a man is hired to kill another human being and kills that human being, he is called a "hit man." When an abortionist doctor is hired to perform abortions and actually performs abortions, he is called a "medical hit man."

In either case the life of a human being is ended. A murder has been committed.

Charles J. Sippel, Waterloo