The label of "Third-world country" de-humanizes the people who live in that nation. Yet the children we have come across have a better approach to education and their futures than most American children! And even the beggar woman I saw on the street two days ago was simply trying to provide for her child-which is one of the most primal human instincts!
It is hard for me to claim that my country America, although I love it's freedoms and landscapes, is more "developed" than India. Here there is a female president. Here religions and religious tolerance are not only taught, but Muslims, Christians, and Hindu's go to school and pray together!
One of my group mates pointed out that if this understanding and acceptance had been taught in American schools other than what is "politically correct," maybe there would not be a social stigma against those of the Islamic faith after the actions on 9/11. Maybe we would have understood the origins and philosophies of this culture and "Islamophobia" would not exist, we could all understand that extreme terrorists represent less than .5% of the Islamic world population.
It's these misinformed and misinterpreted stigma's that work against uniting the states of America and cause Western society (with all its imperfections and developing qualities) to call itself the "first world" and countries like India the "third world."
America is so unique in the ethnicities and origins of all of her citizens. Yet, it seems like this fear of the "other" comes out of a longing for the community and connectedness that is present in these poverty-stricken, beautiful countries like India. Who are we to call ourselves that much better? Or truly better at all?
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