Today’s world has many big problems: wars, terrorism, global warming, serious diseases. There are also “smaller” problems of our everyday lives: social problems, problems of the society in which we live.
Drug abuse and addiction
Drugs have become a big problem of the last decades as their abuse spreads, especially among young people. The most common drugs are e.g. marijuana (ganja), heroin, LSD, cocaine, crack or ecstasy. Drugs are dangerous because you can become addict very soon, sometimes even after a few uses. An addict person will do anything to get money for a dose and usually cannot get rid of his addiction by himself. Addict people also risk many diseases, such as AIDS or hepatitis, which are transmitted by blood.
The drug addicts can find help in specialized centres, where they can get advice and support, or at least clean needles. For those who don’t want to come to the centres there are streetworkers who come among them and try to persuade them to look for help.
Alcohol and nicotine are also drugs and their biggest danger is in the fact that they are considered “normal” and people are not afraid to try them. It has become a fashion trend to smoke and drink a lot of alcohol among teenagers, who develop addiction most easily. Another type of addiction is gambling.
The worst aspect of any addiction is that it ruins not only the life of the addict person but also of their families. The use of drugs also leads to higher criminality and the sale of drugs often supports organized crime.
Homelessness
Sometimes people find themselves in a difficult situation, they lose their job and home and they live in the streets, under bridges or in old cars. Some of them are alcoholics or drug addicts but many are also mentally ill and there is no one to take care of them. Homeless people’s life is not easy, they risk many diseases because of bad hygiene or they may become victims of crime or cold. They can find some help in hostels led by Salvation Army or other charity organisations where they can get some food and stay overnight for a symbolic price.
Clash of Cultures
As the world is getting more and more global, people often move from country to country. The immigrants are suddenly in a totally different cultural environment and there is a strong pressure on them to accept new values. The idea of multiculturalism means that people from different countries and cultural backgrounds should be able to keep their customs. However, this often leads to total separation from the majority society and creation of ghettos where immigrants don’t have any contact with the language or culture and never become a real part of their new home country. On the other hand, there are also immigrants who don’t want to be integrated in the society; both cases usually lead to a number of problems and even violence.
Most people leave their own countries for economic reasons, especially in the third world – they cannot find good jobs and earn enough money to support their families. Sometimes their conditions are worsened by natural disasters, such as drought or floods. Another reason is politics, in many countries people with different political opinions are discriminated. There are also refugees who escape from war or civil war.
Racial discrimination.
Racism is mostly product of prejudice and xenophobia, the fear of strangers because they look or behave differently. It is everyone’s problem to learn to judge people not by their looks but by their actions and character. Sometimes the accusation of racism serves only as a cover-up for people who can’t or don’t want to cope with cultural differences or to find a compromise between the new and the old society.
Bullying
It is not only the “adult” world but also the world of children and students, which suffers from social problems. A bully is somebody who teases and tortures others, usually the weakest in the class, verbally or physically. The bully is not alone; he has a group of friends who support him, and the bullying takes place with the silent consent of the rest of the class.
Bullying by colleagues at work is called mobbing, and if it is done by the boss, we call it bossing.
Charities
These are voluntary organisations which help people in need. “Voluntary” means that people work without getting any money, in their free time. There are many things you can do for charity – you can assist in children’s homes, help old and helpless people, be a voluntary fireman, raise money for charity (e.g. sell white pencils to help the blind, bricks for houses without barriers, sunflowers to fight cancer etc.), clean up parks and woods, or you can go abroad and build schools and hospitals in underdeveloped countries or help victims of natural disasters. If you don’t feel like doing charity work yourself, you can always donate money.
The most famous international charity organisation is the Salvation Army, which helps the poor and the homeless. Other well-known organisations in the Czech Republic which help worldwide are Adra or People in Need, they e.g. organised help to people in Asia after the tsunami.
There are also charity foundations organised by famous people, e.g. Tereza Maxová Foundation, which helps orphaned children.
abuse zneužívání flood záplavy
addict závislý refugee uprchlík
dose dávka civil war občanská válka
get rid of zbavit se prejudice předsudek
transmit přenášet behave chovat se
advice rada accusation obvinění
support podpora cover-up zástěrka
needle jehla cope vyrovnat se
gambling hráčství tease trápit
hostel ubytovna torture týrat
victim oběť consent souhlas
Salvation Army Armáda spásy underdeveloped rozvojový
accept přijmout donate darovat
values hodnoty People in Need Člověk v tísni
customs zvyky foundation nadace
drought sucho orphaned osiřelý
Žádné komentáře:
Okomentovat