Are you hungry?

Today is World Food Day. It is a day meant to bring about awareness of food issues around the world. According to the Huffington Post, 1 billion people are hungry in the world, and 4.5 million Americans are getting emergency food assistance from Feeding America.

I ate three meals today, and snack or two. I think it would be fair to say that, though I remember saying "I'm starrrrrving!" as a little kid, I have never really experienced true hunger pains. I may be going out on a limb, but I doubt many of you have either. In fact most of the time, I am overly full after eating a meal.

While all of this is great, I had to wonder as I started reading information about World Food Day if I was really thankful for the food I eat. A lot of times I think I take for granted the fact that when I'm hungry I have money in my bank account to go to the store and pick something up for dinner. Many people don't have stores full of food and many more wouldn't have the money to afford the food anyway.

Pardon my soapbox, but WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!! These are tough times. I don't think of one person that I know of who hasn't had to make some sort of cut back in their lifestyle, but buying the cheaper brand of bread isn't really that much of a sacrifice.

I was at a journalism panel at Emerson and one of the panelists told the story of a family she covered. This family had two little children. They did not have enough money to support both of the children, and had to decide which child would live. The panelist described an immaculately kept household, and the child which was basically being starved to death who was kept in a pristine white dress. The panelist refrained from naming the country this occurred in, because she didn't want people to make generalities. But does it really matter? This shouldn't be happening anywhere. No parent should ever have to make the decision of which child they can keep because they don't have enough food to feed both. This is 2009 right?

I guess I'm just wondering why we can make progress and create robotic vacuums that work on their own, and we can't come up with a way to feed everyone in the world. Now that seems like something that would deserve the Nobel Peace Prize (don't worry I won't get started on that soapbox).

Practically speaking winter is coming, so if you live in a city like I do, it wouldn't kill you to buy a sandwich for the homeless person you pass every day. Most towns and cities have food drives or soup kitchens. Give your time. No it won't solve the problem of the child in India scrounging through trash for food, but at least you will be doing something.

At the end of every post I wish you all happy eating. I hope today it is extra happy. Stop for a second to consider and be thankful for all of the food you have; we really are so blessed.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily