What I worry about is the lack of understanding in society around

Hear now the solemn words of Magdi Yacoub, healer of hearts and servant of humanity: “What I worry about is the lack of understanding in society around the world that there is a divide in the world between those who have and those who do not.” These words are not merely the concerns of a single man, but the lament of one who has walked among both palaces and poverty, who has seen the richness of life saved by medicine, and the tragedy of life lost for want of it. They speak of a truth as old as civilization—the eternal chasm between abundance and deprivation, between the haves and the have-nots.

In every age, this divide has been the test of a society’s soul. The wealth of kings was built upon the toil of peasants, and yet it was often the hungry who paid the price of war and famine. The streets of Rome glittered with marble and gold, while in the shadows, slaves and beggars struggled to live another day. So too in our age, the skyscrapers of the wealthy pierce the heavens, while countless millions sleep under roofs of rust and straw. Yacoub warns us that the true danger lies not only in the existence of this divide, but in the blindness of those who refuse to see it. Ignorance of inequality is the seed of injustice.

Consider the tale of the French Revolution. For centuries, the aristocracy lived in unimaginable luxury, dining on silver and silk, while the common people starved. They saw, but they did not understand; they lived, but they did not care. The divide grew until it became unbearable, and the fury of the people swept away the old order. The lesson of history is clear: when the divide between the haves and have-nots is ignored, the balance of society collapses, and chaos takes its place.

Yet Yacoub, a surgeon whose hands gave life to the poor as well as the rich, reminds us that the answer is not despair, but compassion. He himself devoted his skill to children in Egypt who could not afford the medicine of the wealthy West. Through his work, he reflected the truth that prosperity is meaningless if it is not shared. For what value is there in riches, if one cannot ease the suffering of another? What glory is there in progress, if the fruits of progress are hoarded by a few?

The divide is not only of wealth, but of opportunity, of health, of education, of dignity. When some live with the freedom to dream, while others struggle merely to survive, the world fractures into two realities. And yet, all men and women are bound together by one destiny. The sickness of the poor becomes the sickness of the whole, the despair of the many corrodes the stability of the few. To ignore this truth is to build a house upon sand, for a divided world cannot stand.

What lesson, then, must we take from Yacoub’s words? That awareness is the first step toward justice. We must open our eyes to the suffering around us, refusing the comfort of ignorance. We must demand of leaders that policies serve not only the wealthy, but also the forgotten. In our own lives, we must act with generosity—giving time, resources, and compassion to those who lack what we possess. Let each act of kindness be a stone laid across the divide, until bridges replace chasms.

And so, children of tomorrow, remember: the true danger is not only inequality itself, but the blindness to its presence. Those who have must see, must understand, must act. Those who have not must be heard, must be lifted, must be given the dignity that belongs to every human being. Only then can society stand whole. Let the words of Magdi Yacoub be a torch in the darkness: to ignore the divide is to feed destruction, but to face it with compassion is to heal the world.