The Power of Half is a book that is strongly related to the idea of giving up as much as you can to a person that is not as well off as you are. This idea relates to the Peter Singer article that we read this past week. The family in The Power of Half is not a family that is poor. They have virtually all of their needs and wants satisfied. They have a house that is twice the size of most houses, a decent car and regularly donate to some organizations and volunteer with groups like Habitat for Humanity. One day, the daughter, Hannah, sees a homeless man begging for money for food, but then she also sees a person driving a Mercedes. She was then set off on the unfair advantage that some people have in the world and the inequalities. In the end, they decide to move out of their 7,000 sq.ft. house and into a house half the size. The money that they recieved on the purchase of their old house would then be donated to help impoverished people around the world. My first reaction to this was that it was great that a family would even consider doing something of that magnitude just to help other people, especially for people they don't know. However, as I continue to think about it, I feel that while they made a huge sacrifice, they could have made a bigger one that would still not even put a dent in what they own in assets. A 7,000 sq.ft. house is absolutely massive. To own a house of that size would mean that at least one of the parents has a job that provides for more than enough financial security. Even with the financial system in shambles, they have no worries. I feel that they could've sacrificed even a little more. Don't get me wrong, they did a great thing, they just could've done more. Their story accentuates the idea of giving what you can do to help people around the world. People actually do stuff like this. It isn't just Singer's theory anymore, it's actually happening. It proves that Singer's ideas can be put into motion instead of just being written on a page.
The story of the Salvant family doesn't really change my opinions or thoughts on Singer's ideas. I liked Singer's ideas from the beginning. To be brutally honest, this is something that I would want to be able to be in a position to do when I get older. I love the idea of giving up all of the extra in order to help someone else (also, it's an environmental issue because affluence and poverty are some of the main causes of environmental issues). However, this story did have an unexpected effect on me. Before I read it, I felt that while a person should give up as much as they can, that they were also entitled to some human desires and a little extra of something every now and then. After I read it, I thought, why should I get extra when a person has nothing to their name? I'm sure that I would think about this differently if it were me in the book, and I feel really hypocritical because I think I would defend my desire to have a little something. If people were able to contribute half of what they own, I truly believe that there would no poverty, no starvation and no fear of where the next meal was coming from. And then maybe we all could have a little extra.
The story of the Salvant family doesn't really change my opinions or thoughts on Singer's ideas. I liked Singer's ideas from the beginning. To be brutally honest, this is something that I would want to be able to be in a position to do when I get older. I love the idea of giving up all of the extra in order to help someone else (also, it's an environmental issue because affluence and poverty are some of the main causes of environmental issues). However, this story did have an unexpected effect on me. Before I read it, I felt that while a person should give up as much as they can, that they were also entitled to some human desires and a little extra of something every now and then. After I read it, I thought, why should I get extra when a person has nothing to their name? I'm sure that I would think about this differently if it were me in the book, and I feel really hypocritical because I think I would defend my desire to have a little something. If people were able to contribute half of what they own, I truly believe that there would no poverty, no starvation and no fear of where the next meal was coming from. And then maybe we all could have a little extra.