Every year, each one of us has a Christmas many around the world could only dream of. We don’t mean to only say Christmas, for whatever your choice of celebration is just fine by us, but nonetheless you’re extremely lucky. It’s easy around this time of year; a time filled with gifts, malls, Christmas parties, and stupid sweaters, to forget what is truly important in life. Granted, each one of us goes through our struggles and sorrows and we sincerely feel for each of us that has this year, but a simple tour of the globe this Christmas day will show you just how lucky you are.

Twenty-five thousand children will call Christmas day their last around the world this year. Think about another twenty-five thousand tomorrow and yet another twenty-five thousand the day after that, and soon the numbers being to swell the brain. These children are dying of poverty. Call it malnutrition, call it disease, the real name for it is poverty, and the drastic stacking of the numbers is frightening. These children are dying, but why aren’t you seeing any of this on CNN? These children, “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death,” a quote from Unicef explains.

While the US population is currently largely obsessed with Avatar and the coming of the new season of American Idol, the third, fourth and fifth worlds are looking for clean water. Two and a half billion people lack the sanitation it takes to making drinking water safe, and the numbers are growing. Almost two billion people consume less than twenty liters a day of water, the average American consumes over six hundred! To their credit, the UN is trying to do something about it: They have made the goal to cut the sanitation figure in half by 2015 and the United States has pledged almost a billion dollars to help the effort.

Unfortunately, we could go on with these numbers forever. A quarter of the world’s population lives without electricity! Stop and really think about this. It is almost unfathomable. But what can we do? The good news is: more than ever. With the widespread (relatively, just look above) use of computers and the internet, ideas are able to be shared and popularized more than ever. There are a few large attempts being made to make some dents in the numbers above, most coming from wealthy countries and organizations like the UN, but it’s individuals who can truly make a difference. The wealthiest seven people in the world control more money than 41 of the poorest countries on the globe.

So what can you do? Talk about it, give to Unicef, make some noise, and get your friends involved. Everyone and their sister hopped on the “Green” movement because it’s new, sexy, and Leo drives a hybrid, yet not many are interested in seeing or talking about death and disease on a massive scale. This Christmas, with the world where it is, let’s make it the time to change. Many of us are feeling the economic pinch, and it should give us a little more respect for the economic stranglehold a third of the world is in. If you do anything today, get educated on an issue that you care about, send an email or let someone know, because each small step is a change in the right direction. And let us say, we don’t mean to sour your Christmas cheer completely. After you’ve done some homework, position that sweetie just perfectly under the mistletoe and enjoy a glass of your favorite spirit. Most importantly though, on this very merry Christmas, FreddieBlack says, “Be thankful.”