An Unacceptable Loss

by Nathaniel Whittemore · 2009-04-16 18:17:00 UTC
Topics:

My guts coiled when I read the headline on the Huffington Post: "1,500 Farmers in India Commit Suicide."

The farmers were driven to debt by crop failure, and became caught in a cycle of money lending where they felt as if there was no protection other than escape. This is not new, since 1997, the National Crime Records Bureau suggests that some 200,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide.

This is an unacceptable loss, and it reminds us that we have to be careful with how callously we treat the "destruction," in "creative destruction," because real lives are on the line. It reminds us that we, as a society, must decide when we refuse to allow economies to leave people behind so entirely.

Nathaniel Whittemore is the founder of Assetmap. Previously he was the founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement.
PREVIOUS STORY:
A Perfect Storm for the Innovation Imperative
NEXT STORY:
Facing Forward: The End of the Social Entrepreneurship Blog on Change.org

COMMENTS (0)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.