Abuse

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines abuse as, "to treat (a person or animal) in a harsh or harmful way." [1] We harm each other in two ways: Things we do intentionally to harm each other and things we don't do at all. Here are two examples:

1. Financial Abuse:
• Aggressive business practices intentionally harm others by exploiting and manipulation people for financial gain. Such practices include aggressive marketing practices, unreasonably high prices, unfairly low wages with limited benefits, compromised quality of goods and services etc. While a few people reap the rewards, many people suffer as a result, experiencing low quality of life, debt, stress, tension, unhappiness and emptiness because the things we buy don't fulfill us as promised.
2. Social Abuse:
• Social abuse comes from the things we don't do to help others. Through neglect, which comes from laziness and apathy, we harm others by not helping them when we can. Social abuse is systemic, and includes such things as poverty, disenfranchised communities, homelessness etc. Billions of people around the world do not have access to their basic human needs such as food, water, clothing, shelter, healthcare and education [2]. It's not because we don't have enough resources, it's because we're immersed in selfishness and don't have our priorities straight. We prioritize things such as war and conflict over making sure everyone has enough to eat and drink. We're negligent and apathetic and many people suffer as a result. Remember, we're all one family and we have to treat each other as family.

In everything we do, we should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.

References:

1. Abuse. www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved Aug 27, 2014.
2. Our Basic Needs - A Snapshot Of The World. www.carterkagume.blogspot.ca. July 31, 2014. Retrieved Aug 28, 2014.

Copyright © 2014, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.