Sean Munroe2/17/15

Period 3The Munroe Solution To World Poverty

It was the morning of July 29, 2014, my 30th birthday. I woke up just like any other day,

wondering what the universe had in store for me. So I grabbed my newspaper off the lawn, gazed

at my 2014 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, and ran back inside, after realizing I was still in my boxers. I

turned to the back of my newspaper ,as always, to read the re-published section. “The Singer

Solution To World Poverty by Peter Singer” originally published in 1999, intrigued me. I

thought to myself, “Is there a solution to poverty?” Captivated by the topic, as well as not trying

to judge an article by its title, I read on. After being taken on multiple guilt trips, and being

challenged by Singer to give away my money that I work so hard to earn, 5 days a week, 12

hours a day, as a Sports Medicine Doctor at Tufts Medical Center, I decided that I should stand

up for the working class, and challenge the “unconventional thoughts” that Singer has presented.

Below is my complete correspondence with Peter Singer.

Mr.Singer,

My name is Sean Munroe. I have recently read your article in the Times, “The

Singer Solution To World Poverty”. First off, I applaud you for your generosity towards famine-

relief agencies. Directly after this statistic, there is a quote by you that reads “ From when I first

saw pictures in the newspapers of people starving, from when people asked you to donate some

of your pocket money for collections at school...I always thought,’Why that much--why not

more?” You then go on to take the reader on guilt trips, imposing your beliefs on them. The

problem I have with this is that your beliefs are very different from others. As an ethics teacher

at Princeton I think that you would agree that giving money to charity doesn’t mean anything if

you don’t want to do it. People should want to give money to charity, they shouldn’t be guilted

into it--which is exactly what you, Mr.Singer, are doing. After all, the definition of charity, is

“the voluntary giving of help, typically in the form of money, to those in need.” The keyword

here is voluntary.

I hope to hear your thoughts on this soon,

Sean Munroe

Now, seeing as I am just another “hater” of Mr.Singer, I did not expect to actually hear

back from him. That is why I was surprised when my phone buzzed and Peter Singer’s name

popped up. I immediately opened it and was appalled by the response. Below is Mr.Singer’s

response:

Mr.Munroe,

You say that I am imposing my beliefs on others, I am sure that you impose your

beliefs on somebody everyday whenever you try to convince someone of something. I am merely

stating facts and giving every human the opportunity to do something in the world. Luxuries are

not necessities, but that’s not how children are growing up today. They get what they want, when

they want it, it is despicable. As I wrote in the article it would only take “$200 in donations…[to]

help a sickly 2-year-old transform into a healthy 6-year-old.” That’s one less pair of Beats

headphones, one less PS4, or one less Xbox360. As I also said, a family only needs $30,000 to

live, the rest of their income should be donated. I think it is incredibly disheartening in many

ways yo hear you say these things about this sad subject.

Peter Singer

After this response, I decided I wouldn’t be able to do anything productive. When I asked

my assistant, I was reluctant to hear that I didn’t have any more scheduled appointments that day.

So I quickly closed my office and drove home and got comfortable. I was then in the right state

of mind to be able to respond to Mr.Singer, respectfully that is. Below is my response:

Mr.Singer,

I am not going to lie to you, I was raised in a financially stable household. In

contrast, my father was not, until he was adopted by a very generous family that was willing to

give more than just money. They gave him a life, an education, their time, and most importantly,

a family. I have not seen my dad in 4 years, and money is not going to replace my dad. What i’m

getting at is, children in poverty need more than just money to “transform” into a healthy 6-

year-old from a sick 2-year-old (I do not believe that children are more worth saving than

adults, but since no one can argue that children have brought their hardships on themselves,

focusing on them simplifies the issue). I think it is incredibly ignorant of you to think that since

you give money to charities, that you are above everybody else and that you can look down on

the rest of us and guilt people into giving money. In your article you write “The child was a

complete stranger to him and too far away to relate to in an intimate way.” Based on my story

and your quote, I leave you with this question, Does your giving of money to a child in an

unknown country far away, allow you to turn your head to the other problems of poverty?

Sean Munroe

Mr.Singer never responded.