A tale of injustice and inequality in modern society

Poor walk miles for food, and the rich run miles to digest it. This is a drawback of the so-called modern society where poor people keep struggling to get their two meals a day. On the other hand, the rich eat so much food that they need to jog and walk to digest all those extra calories. It reinforces the fact that life is so unfair, and a question hits my mind: How long will this social injustice stay in power? Is the earth really a small planet to support an 8 billion population, or is it the modern man’s mismanagement that has led to this?
Some are on diets, some going for liposuction, while others are craving a bite, and lacking regular access to adequate food. World hunger is on the rise, affecting nearly 10% of people globally. I wish there were a direct transfer of energy from the rich to the poor; then “zero hunger,” one of the sustainable development goals, would have been achieved. The accumulation of food in a few hands has worsened the lives of many. Members of the new generation seem destined to live in hard times very soon. Willingly or not, they are spinning a cocoon of misery around themselves.
Modern man claims he is wiser than a primitive one, but who could be more ignorant than a man who eats to waste energy in gym centres? He prefers wasting his money, time, and energy instead of doing his own household chores. They work out on treadmills for hours and taunt the past times’ women for carrying water on their shoulders for their families. Past times’ uneducated people had no concept of wasting energy we call “gym”; they were investing their energy in some fruitful work. They had no diseases like a modern diseased man.
We often say humans now have comfortable lives, but what could be more uncomfortable than inhaling a venom produced by oneself? He is not healthy either; he thinks his life expectancy has increased. No, it’s not him who is living; it’s all due to the favour of medicines. All his savings are invested in his health, but the naive man doesn’t know he has started a battle with “Al Muntaqim,” the Avenger, and it is bound to happen.
We need to address the needs of the most vulnerable people, including those facing food insecurity. This could be achieved by boosting social awareness programs, adopting sustainable development, keeping the global food trade going, encouraging farmers, consuming a balanced diet, and most importantly, feeding the poor, not the treadmill and liposuction machines. Be empathetic and open your hearts to the people on the street, pay your zakat and sadaqah on time, and let them sleep with a filled stomach. Stay blessed and be kind.

The writer can be reached at [email protected]

Kulsooma Wali