The sun’s early spring beams penetrate the window and lavish the room with cozy warmth as the golden light falls ideally on the majestic leafy plant that prevails in the spacious kitchen. It had been placed in that ideal spot to soak in the long-day’s sunshine. Stepping back a little, one can’t help but admire the perfect kitchen cupboards which had been picked out so carefully; their ideal, modish frame and material all fitting in precisely with the floor tiles and wall color. And a feeling of contentment fills the soul as one sips that hot, aromatic morning beverage before setting off for the gym.

Despite the fact that the gym is quite close to the house, one has chosen the VHS with which to reach the building since afterwards the grocery shopping must be attended to. That happens to be a bit further at a national supermarket chain located in one of the largest malls in the State. It all seems normal—a life that has been lived for quite some time. All based and dependent on extravagant machines and a technology that has simplified life; demand and production. But is that the life humanity was meant to live?

Should the answer be yes, why then are billions of people suffering and not living the same life? As a matter of fact 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day. The poorest 40% of the world’s population accounts for 5% of global income while the richest 20% makes up three quarters of the world income.

Around 27-28% of all children in the developing countries are underweight or stunted. The two poorest regions that make up the largest percentage of the shortfall are South Asia and sub-Saharan Arica. UNICEF reports that 22,000 die each day due to poverty but their sufferings are invisible to the world and their death firmly secures the nails to their permanent coffins of invisibility.

The first question which will pop up in one’s mind more than likely is…”Why am I to blame?” It is a question that can be answered quite easily with the nouns…”Consumerism, wealth, inequality”. Those are the culprits at the foundations of global injustice occurring from time immemorial responsible for human plight. Scientists tell us that human life began in Africa and it is in Africa where the most grotesque of wrongs have been carried out for the longest time.

‘Wait one minute,’ some may be thinking about now, ‘isn’t this article about modern-day lifestyle?’ True, it is. And modern-day lifestyle is based on ‘big business’ which has not come about simply because one’s country leaders were cleverer than others or had greater insight, but because due to their full stomachs and higher education realized how to take advantage of other—less fortunate—regions of the world.

When the western world lifestyle is dependent on the misery of billions of others, that then makes one’s lifestyle most certainly a superficial one. Apart from that, take a look at the goings on in one’s nation. The rise in crime, the types of crimes committed—the insanity of those crimes, the illnesses that have afflicted modern-day Western and developing world. Behind every single one of these ills is an inhumane injustice. The more it lingers, the less morality prevails, the more superficial one’s lifestyle becomes. The majority of the world’s wealthiest are carrying out great injustices. It must be realized once and for all that this lifestyle chosen must alter, for slowly but surely the world is being steered to days even darker than the present, report many different organizations observing the world state.

Buildings are built brick by brick, so must man begin a brick by brick modification of his modern-day superficial living and maneuver towards a grass roots lifestyle which will include his fellow man (and all living beings) the world over and which will manifest once there is a realization that wealth must be shared by all; a statement which has been voiced by all religions and humanitarians.