Feeding the hungry and the hunger inside us
The body must be nourished, physically, emotionally and spiritually. We’re spiritually starved in this culture—not underfed but undernourished.
When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why the poor have no food, they call you a communist.
On this first day of 2002, I’m visiting The Hunger Site (www.thehungersite.com) on the Internet. By merely clicking on the “Give Free Food” button, I can provide around a cup of staple foods (beans, rice, other grains, etc.) to the hungry of the world. It’s easy, with no cost to me, the food paid for by sponsors of the site.
Usually I just click and leave. Today I briefly reviewed some facts and figures provided on the site and am appalled to see that:
- About 24,000 people die every day from hunger or hunger-related causes around the world. Three-fourths of the deaths are children under the age of five.
- Today 10 percent of children in developing countries die before the age of five.
- 840 million people live in the condition of chronic, persistent hunger. (more…)
Saturday, February 2nd, 2002
Toward a sustainable future
The despoiling of the Earth is not only ecocide; it is also suicide. The distractions we are fed daily by advertisers do not substitute for laying out an agenda of needed work as distinct from work that feeds greed and unsustainable consumerism. As Gandhi warned us, “There is enough for everyone’s need, not for everyone’s greed.”
~Matthew FoxWhat would you think if you ventured to a distant planet, a place with abundant resources, where the inhabitants were:
- clear-cutting their forests at a rapid clip;
- dumping poisons and contaminants into their water sources;
- spewing noxious gases and pollutants into the air they breathe and
- filling their food with pesticides, genetically modified ingredients, and chemical additives?
Lost their minds, perhaps? Gone completely insane? Well, the scenario above looks a lot like good old planet Earth. And if we don’t acknowledge the folly of our ways soon, there exists a potential for us to become the first species to actually cause its own extinction. (more…)
Saturday, February 2nd, 2002
