The Mechanisms Of a Warped World

The recent news of Cristiano Ronaldo's transfer—indicating he is 'worth' £80 million—has brought me abruptly to a conclusion which has been dawning on me for some time.

We live in a twisted world.

Those in the entertainment industry—sports, music, film-making and acting—get paid obscene amounts of money, yet the people without whom the world simply wouldn't work—cleaners, janitors, lorry drivers—get paid pittance.

Doctors—people who save lives on a daily basis—earn in a year what many of the most famous sportsmen of this time get paid in a week.

In this time of economic crisis, it is the weak who suffer. Charitable organizations—the ones who actually do good in this world—are the first to have their government funding cut, while ticket sales for music concerts go through the roof.

"Aid Fatigue" is a huge problem.

The first time we saw the images of thin, malnourished African children scavenging for their dinners, we reached into our pockets, purses and wallets and gave generously.

But the images kept coming. News of famines, droughts, floods and too many horrific occurrences reached our ears day in, day out.

It got to the point that when adverts came on the TV, asking for donations to allow these people fresh water to drink, we would change the channel. We'd roll our eyes and discard the pamphlets asking for the same thing as 'junk'.

Comic relief is an incredible thing. But over the years, a larger proportion of the money raised has gone to charities helping people in the UK. While there are problems here, they are not even on the same scale as the problems many Africans face.

The Western World is shallow. We pay more attention than we ought to our favorite sports players, watch more movies than reasonable, and when that fails we go shopping.

We put up barriers against the onslaught of pleas from the people who desperately need help. Who deserve the chance to exercise their human rights.

But they don't get this chance, because our money goes more often to football matches and music concerts.

And we end up with filthy-rich people dominating our news pages, flashing their sickening amounts of money.

When will this monstrous cycle end?