It’s certainly a tragedy that a fire ravaged Notre Dame and caused millions of dollars of damage to the famous Parisian cathedral in its wake. Since its near destruction, I continue to ask myself one question as close to $1 billion dollars has now been donated to getting it repaired. Aren’t there far more important things in this world right now desperately needing donations like this?
There are over 842 million people who do not have enough to eat in this world. There is close to 1.6 billion who are homeless in the world as well. And there are more than 844 million who lack access to clean water around the globe too. If money reaching $1 billion is being pledged to Notre Dame to repair it, why can’t money like that be contributed instead to helping the countless worthy and deserving needy souls on this planet?
And then there’s the Catholic Church, who owns the structure. Having a net worth between $10 and $30 billion, why wouldn’t it be in charge of restoring its own structure, while encouraging and directing all those huge donations to the necessary causes needing so much help right now on this planet?
Personally, I just don’t understand things like this. With the amount of money being pledged to getting this beloved structure fixed and continuing to grow, at least one of the major world’s crises could almost be eradicated, if not fully eradicated.
While I have visited Notre Dame and actually walked within the ornate building, and while it has been home to many famous weddings and funerals, and remained a part of history on plenty of levels, when it comes right down to it, it’s still a building. And frankly, in my humble opinion, is far less worthy and deserving of $1 billion dollars in donations than the people dying around the world from hunger, thirst, and homelessness, amongst other things.
Sometimes I think this world has its priorities all wrong. To spend even an hour amongst the very poor, to see their living conditions, and to witness the constant death and dying they deal with every single day, is enough to wish one had all the money in the world to fix their problems.
I’m far from being someone who can contribute a large sum of money to change any of this, but at least for now, when I have money to donate, I can promise you it’s not going to be to save a famous structure, it’s going to be to save a soul…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
