Monday, November 4, 2013

Thoughts on Missing Supper

Yesterday I missed supper.  My wife Linda and I were out visiting family, and the supper hour came and went without my eating.  Later in the evening, as we were driving home, I said, "I am really hungry!"  She offered to stop and get something at a burger joint, but in the end we waited and I had a bowl of cereal and milk before going to bed.

How often do we use such language without really thinking about it?  Yes, I wanted something to eat--but hungry?  Really hungry?  I don't know if I've ever been really hungry.  Certainly, I've never dealt with the uncertainty of not knowing where I was going to get my next meal.  And starved?  It's almost criminal the way we throw that word around.  "Boy, am I starved!" 

This past week millions of Americans learned anew what it means to be hungry as automatic cuts in the Food Stamp program went into effect.  The cuts mean that a family of four could lose up to $36 a month in their allotment.  That could mean a meal, or two or maybe a whole day's worth of meals.  According to Bread for the World, an anti-hunger advocacy group, 49 million Americans live day in  and day out at the risk of hunger--at the risk of literally being unsure of their next meal.  And that's just here in America.  We're not even talking about the billion or so folks around the world who suffer from hunger.

So what can you do?  Well, to begin with go the Bread for the World website at www.bread.org and read up on the issue for yourself.  Then, take some time to write a letter or two to your legislators.  Let them know hunger is a priority issue!  And then pry loose some of your own money and donate to a good hunger relief agency.  And those canned goods for the food pantry--or volunteering your time at a soup kitchen--those things are all good as well.

Yesterday I missed my supper.  For a few hours.  Some folks miss it altogether--along with breakfast and lunch.  We can do something to change that!

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