The Life You Can Save Today (Poem)

Children are dying from diseases
That are easily preventable.
Some feel hunger that never eases,
The injustice is lamentable.

Poverty and inequality
Are destroying the world we live in.
We feel a sense of futility
Believing it’s a battle we can’t win.

But there is a way to save them all,
By thinking of one life at a time.
Hearing a single child’s fearful call,
Knowing inaction would be a crime.

Imagine if you heard a child’s cry,
As they fell into a shallow pond,
Would you ignore them and walk on by?
What is the moral way to respond?

Would you jump in and pull the child out?
If you saw them drowning in the pond?
Most people would, without any doubt,
Since all life is tethered by a bond.

Yet a drowning child that’s out of sight
Is still crying out in helpless fear.
We must hear their cry and see their plight,
And save millions of lives every year.

Either a few people give a lot
Since they have a larger money pot,
Or many people give a little
Without making their own lives brittle.

By just Giving What We Can each day,
We’ll create a fairer world for all,
Where we don’t just turn and walk away
But reach out and save all those who fall.

Effective altruism can give
The gift of hope and satisfaction.
We’ll know that we’ve helped someone to live,
By our caring yet modest action.

So let’s all give a little to save
A life with immense intrinsic worth.
We don’t even need to be that brave.
So act now to save all life on Earth!

By Ciara Muldoon
Co-founder of SearchScene.com, the charitable search engine that protects the planet and your privacy while you search the web.

Written 27 February 2021

This poem was inspired by Peter Singer’s book, “The Life You Can Save” (2019  – 10th Anniversary Edition)