As people return from vacation and I peruse Facebook to check out their photos, I also notice a phenomenon that until recently didn’t bother me. Pictures of food. Pretty food. Gross food. Interesting looking food—you name it, you can view it. I have to say that I am guilty of this as well. I haven’t done it recently, but I did once take a picture of my favorite burrito at La Taqueria in the Mission in San Francisco, because it is that good.
Yet this year these pictures I noted struck me in a different way. Why? The famine in Somalia. Estimates are that 29,000 children under the age of five have died in the famine and thousands more will die in the coming months.
Click here for current news on Somalia:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44021514/ns/world_news-africa/t/us-somali-children-under-dead-famine/
In the beginning of August especially, I would log onto Facebook and I would find myself reading an article on Somalia’s wide spread famine and then underneath, there was a post from someone with pictures of their vacation food. I started to wonder and question—where are the ethics in this projection of food that screams, “I have lots of food!?” Do I point this out? Is it obvious to others? Or, maybe, it isn’t that obvious. Are we as a society so wrapped up in our own lives and our own fun that we cannot relate to a famine that is thousands of miles away? If we aren’t, then something is wrong with us as human beings. Something is amiss. Something must change.
The fact is, food matters—to all of us.
Philosopher, Peter Singer has a great theory on how to end world hunger. He simply says that we need to stop eating meals out. He says that the money saved from two months of not eating meals outside the home would end world hunger. This is obviously not considering that conflicts, such as the political unrest raging in Somalia for years now, affects the flow of food, but the fact is, he has a point. There are concerns with this theory—what would happen to all the employees in those restaurants, all the transportation workers who transport the food, all the farm workers and farm owners? Yes, there are holes in his theory, but I think as a Philosopher, Singer is simply trying to say, “We don’t need to spend a $100 or more on a good meal.” I think he is also saying, “How can we as fellow human beings justify eating an expensive meal out, when people are literally starving to death in a country not too far from where we are?”
Here’s another counter point, and this is mostly for women: explain to a mother in Africa who’s child is literally starving or has died due to starvation, why you just spent $100 on a manicure and a pedicure. Or, why you spend money on make up. Or, why you spend over $150 a month to get your hair done. I am guilty of that last one. I spend over $100 every month to get my hair done. I am embarrassed to admit that. I am guilty, just as all of us are, of selfish, materialistic apathy.
The pictures of food not only on Facebook, but those images we are bombarded with in the media of food every single day are a testament to how we as a society have become numb to our world hunger issue as a whole. If people in Somalia had access to Facebook or our television commercials and they could see the food that was portrayed in images, as well as witness the Western world’s media consumerist push of grocery store items such as the choice of fifty different kinds of cereal, they probably wouldn’t know what to say or think.
Can you imagine if your child just died because you couldn’t feed him or her and you logged onto Facebook only to see pictures of food from someone’s vacation? Or you had access to television commercials in the USA, only to see how you can buy two larges pizzas that can feed at least ten people for a low price at Dominos, followed by an all-you-can-eat commercial at your local Chinese restaurant?
I may sound self-righteous and I may sound melodramatic, but the reality is that there is a famine right now. People are dying because they have no food. As religious, ethical, spiritual, humanist, or however you want to define yourself, human beings, we must all take note that we are responsible for making a change in this world of ours. We must be aware that what we do, say, think, and feel matters.
I am not writing this to propose any answers. I don’t know what I hope for in writing this. I do know that I am angry. I look at the pictures coming out of Somalia and I think, What can I do? How can I change this? When I was a kid my mom would say, “Finish your food – there are children dying in Africa.” I am forty-five now. Shouldn’t that be something we never have to say in the year 2011, or ever again?
As humans we need food and water to exist. We need a certain amount of vitamins and minerals to stay healthy and strong. Food and water are a right that every single person on this planet deserves and should have access to. Whether you are black, white, Muslim, Christian, Jew, Atheist, or Hindu—all humans must have the right to basic necessities to live a comfortable, healthy life with dignity and opportunity. Even in a conflict, as a whole, we are mightier and stronger than all those rebels who keep the food from reaching those in need in Somalia. We are bigger if we care enough to make a change in our lives that will have a positive ripple effect that could reach those in need. Do I dream big? Maybe. What else can I do? Sit around and do nothing and hope others make a change? That is not my style.
We live a privileged life here in the United States and in most of the Western world. We are blessed to have the opportunity to choose which cereal we want to eat, which bottled water we want to drink, which restaurant we want to eat at, or if we want boneless or bone-in chicken. Most of the developing world does not have these options or luxuries.
This famine should mean something to every single one of us, individually and collectively. We must remain aware of this. We must simply care. Because by caring, we can make a change. And because, simply put, food matters. It really does.
Please check out these sites if you would like to do something that could create change.
Global Enrichment Foundation
http://www.globalenrichmentfoundation.com/
CARE
UNICEF
http://www.unicefusa.org/work/emergencies/horn-of-africa/?gclid=CNiMnMDF96oCFQw65QodBgJ7Ow
Hi Karen,
Yes, we live in a very privileged society and a lot of us take too many things for granted, far too often. It is good to raise awareness of this, because once awareness is raised, we can act. There is a fine line to be watchful for, though–and that is the guilt line. Sometimes when we become aware of the injustices and inequalities in which we are participating–perhaps unwittingly or unintentionally–then an overwhelming sense of guilt can become almost paralyzing.
The key is to see the injustice and the inequality and somehow, not be overwhelmed by paralyzing guilt, not allow ourselves to tune it out… to see it and hold it, and work to change it in whatever ways we can. That’s hard work. For me, it takes a lot of faith.