I've been doing a lot of reading in the news the last couple of days about hunger in Haiti. I can't help but feel real grief about it.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27826184/
Did you read the entire article or open it and read the subject and quickly close it? If you just opened it and closed it, then I challenge you to open it again and take the ten minutes it takes to read through the whole thing. Force yourself. I know, it's not gossip or sports related. I realize it's not fun. But move yourself out of your comfort zone and read the entire article before going further in my blog.
I admit. I cannot contain my grief about what I read and saw within the body of the article above. I give what we can as often as I can - it's not enough either in amount or frequency, I admit.
I grieve at the thought of babies starving to death just south of one of the richest nations in the world. I grieve at the thought of children starving to death just south of one of the richest nations in the world. I grieve at the though of teenagers starving and rioting over food just south of one of richest nations in the world. I grieve a adults and the elderly starving to death just south of one of the richest nations in the world. I grieve because my money alone will not fix it. I grieve because we all know this is wrong to turn our heads to and yet we do it anyway. It's why we're so wasteful. We don't waste when we think about what others do without. My mother used to say something about starving children in Ethiopia when I was growing up. I thought I was very clever when I smartly responded one night about my meal, "well then send it to them." I think too many of us laugh off starvation just like that.
We had our annual Thanksgiving lunch in our office today and I looked around at the bounty. It was breath taking. It was delicious. I brought my family. It was a great time to get together. Now that it's over, you should see the trash can. You should see the freaking trash can afterwards. It makes me sick. It makes me sick to see the trash can and read that so many in the world are dying of starvation.
I want to rant, but I guess what I'm saying is that I have a little link off to the right of this post. If you have an extra $5, $10, $15 dollars to occasionally give - throw it there. You can give directly to Haiti or any where in the world where there is a need for food. It's so easy. It's so very very easy and could literally make a difference between some one's life or death.
For those of you skeptical about where your money goes, there is a second link for finding out where your money goes when you send it to a charity. Read about the World Food Program. Your money is not being swindled.