Aid Essential, Even During Rough Times, Opinion Piece Says
In the "roughest of times, people show who they are," Bono, U2 lead singer and co-founder of the advocacy group ONE, writes in a New York Times opinion piece. Bono explores U.S. foreign aid, and how "[p]eople said that it was going to be hard to fulfill promises to those who live in dire circumstances such a long way away when there is so much hardship in the United States. And there is."
Bono continues, "But I read recently that Americans are taking up public service in greater numbers because they are short on money to give. And, following a successful bipartisan Senate vote, word is that Congress will restore the money that had been cut from the aid budget." Providing antiretroviral medication to people living with HIV/AIDS, funding efforts to eradicate malaria and assisting with improving maternal health -- "all these provide a leg up on the climb to self-sufficiency" and can help us "make friends in a world quick to enmity," he writes. According to Bono, "It's not alms, it's investment. It's not charity, it's justice" (Bono, New York Times, 4/21).
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