Final Exploration

The Idea of a Local Economy;
"What has happened is that most people in our country, and apparently most people in the 'developed' world, have given proxies to the corporations to produce and provide all of their food, clothing, and shelter" (page 13). This quote stood out to me because we really do rely on other people to provide our basic needs for us, we just pay them to do it. The definition of the word proxy is the authority to represent someone else. Grocery stores have our proxy for our food that we buy, and before the grocery store are the farmers or food processors from all over the country. Retail stores have our proxy for our clothing, and before the retail stores are the designers. The list could go on and on, but is that a bad thing? I'm not sure about anyone else but I am no farmer or fashion designer! I depend on places like Kroger and Kohl's. Before all these places came to be, people made their own clothing and their own food, even their own homes. If they didn't, they got it or help with it from a neighbor or someone/something local. I.e local businesses owned by local people making their own product locally (not a locally owned McDonald's). Some people still live this way, making things for themselves or getting what they need locally. The quote kind of made me think a little deeper about how much power corporate businesses have over us!
Humanitarianism;
The Nobel Piece Prize speech I read was about "Doctors Without Borders (MSF)". When I started reading there were so many big words I didn't really understand what was being talked about. Once I read the example of Rwanda 1994, then I understood more of what the speech and the group itself was about. "No one calls a rape a complex gynecologic emergency. A rape is a rape, just as a genocide is a genocide. And both are a crime" (page 589). I had to go back and read that quote because I was mindlessly reading and that spot stopped me in my tracks. For me it brought together their whole idea of the person before the political, for matter of simple terms. Political influence seems to peel away humanitarian rights. Their speech even talks about humanitarian assistance being used as a tool of war. The thought is slightly sickening to me. Why be at war for people if one of your tools to not assist people who need it?