I wrote an essay for a scholarship application. I thought I'd post it here since I thought it was pretty decent. Read away if you can stand it.

Is America's role in the world contributing to the enhancement of general human welfare? Perhaps it is, perhaps it isn�t. The US government gives out foreign aid, this is true. But the story of America and its role extends beyond the government; it is the people and the private sector as well. And what is the private sector doing to enhance the general welfare of humanity?

Hundreds of US companies have moved over seas in an effort to provide jobs to underprivileged citizens of many third world countries. Nike alone has employed thousands of people in Indonesia since 1986, paying them $2.20 per hour. The livable wage in Indonesia is $4.25 per hour, but is it really fair to hold Nike responsible for a countries economy

But the goodwill of these corporate giants is not limited only to adults; it extends to children as well. Unburdened by child labor laws, children of many countries are free to seek a days wages alongside their parents. In Honduras women enter sweatshops at 14 years of age or so. They work hard to make quality products for the Wal-Mart Corporation. For their labor, they receive the equivalent of $.43 an hour. It may not seem like much, but rest assured that it is made up for by the amount of hours they are given, sometimes twenty four hours a day. If they refuse these hours, they are suspended without pay, or laid off.

This would seem like enough goodwill for one country to be handing out, but the business powers of the US are not satisfied to merely provide jobs for people, they seek to help countries in modernization and utilization of their natural resources. Take Exxon and Shell for instance, they are currently in the middle of their plans to assist the nation of Chad. They will invest 3.5 billion dollars to develop the country�s southern oil fields. But the generosity extends even further, through a pipeline that will pass through the neighboring country of Cameroon to take oil to the sea where it can be loaded onto tankers bound for Europe. According to Louis Djomo, coordinator of the African Forest Action Network, watersheds and protected forest areas are severely threatened by this proposed project. Neighboring Nigeria has already seen the effects of oil pollution, with drinking water tainted and farms ruined by massive crop failures. But the companies assure that this will not happen in this case.

Not only does the United States assist people, but wildlife as well. The nations forests have become grossly over populated. Many United States corporations have taken it upon themselves to help resolve this problem. For vast profit, logging companies destroy square miles of land each year in a process called �clear cutting.� These trees are necessary in maintaining the ecological balance of the surrounding land. Many species of fish are killed as streams are polluted with run off dirt and debris. In the most severe cases, the loss of root structure to hold hillsides together can result in massive mudslides.

Many fight these injustices. In 1999 Teamsters joined with United Auto Workers, consumer, environmental, religious, farm, food security, human rights advocates, and United Methodist Women to call for the World Trade Organization to pass labor and human rights standards. Julia Butterfly Hill fought an amazing battle against corporate logging giants, and chronicled her battle in the book Legacy of Luna, it is a tribute to the power of one person standing up and calling for what is right. Unfortunately, few have such courage and conviction.

Is America's role in the world contributing to the enhancement of general human welfare? I say that as long as Americans promote child labor, as long as they ignore human rights, as long as they allow the destruction of the only planet we have, I cannot say that we are doing good.

Strong as Steel, Still malleable

Iron