So I bought six doughnuts at Dunkin’ Donuts. And even though I had a coupon that allowed me to get six free doughnuts with the purchase of six, I DID NOT TAKE THEM UP ON THE OFFER!##M:[more]## I knew this was a very good deal but I also knew that 1.) I only needed six; and 2.) If I brought home six more I would consume them (bad) or eye them longingly until they slowly shriveled and got thrown out (also bad).
Why would I make a big deal about this? You have to understand that for me to turn down free food is to undo years of conditioning that started in early childhood. My parents, who came to this country with almost nothing except an education and a desire for a better life, also survived the Korean War. They witnessed the terror of war played out in their homeland, but the stories that I remember most vividly are the ones they told of going hungry for days. My father often lived on a single bowl of rice sprinkled with salt for flavor; he could see his belly bloat from malnutrition. My mother told us that when she was the hungriest, she would close her eyes and dream that when she grew up and could afford to, she would eat as many hard-boiled eggs as she could: this was the fantasy that sustained her.
Even today, after years of living comfortably in America she marvels that when she goes to McDonald’s she can take as much ketchup as she wants. They don’t care how many you take! It’s amazing! They’ll even give you honey for your chicken nuggets, you just have to ask! She still sees something that too many of us take for granted — that we live in a land of plenty and if anything is marvelous, this truly is.
But there is a flip side to this tale of abundance. It is the reason why Americans are obese in record numbers and why the epidemic has been trickling down to children. There can be too much of a good thing. Americans are into weighing the value of a dollar and measuring out the best deal. It’s why “buy one get one free”, “free appetizer with meal,” and “breakfast specials, lunch specials, dinner specials, midnight specials” abound.
Every year we drive to South Carolina and until only recently, it was a tradition for us to stop at Shoney’s, a restaurant that specializes in buffet style, all-you-can-eat type meals. I was in love with the Cajun shrimp bar, and like my mother, marveled that you could eat as much as you wanted, no questions asked. So I would sit there up to my elbows in spicy sauce with my mountain of shrimp peels while my husband and kids waited impatiently to hit the road again. Go drive around and come back, I would wave at them, irritated that they would ruin my annual fun.
I was bent on getting my money’s worth. It was a good deal. Until my midsection started to expand. Now I live by the mantra of less is more, which is why I can blithely turn down free doughnuts.
However, sometimes less truly is less and now I’m talking about hunger, true hunger, the kind that my parents knew growing up. It’s easy to think that that kind of hunger existed long ago, that only people who grew up during wartime or the Depression have idiosyncrasies related to want. But hunger is very much a part of today’s world. The news reports coming out of Niger these days are heartbreaking. Children with eyes dark and huge with hunger lying feebly on the ground because they have no strength even to lift their heads. When I was growing up, the headlines came out of places like Biafra, Bangladesh, and Ethiopia. For every generation there is a new famine, a new set of haunting eyes. The countries may change, but the reasons are the same: war, bad politics, drought, infestation.
In Niger, drought and locusts left some 3.6 million people short of food, putting tens of thousands of people at risk of starvation. There are no national mortality figures, but many infants and children, the weakest and most vulnerable, have already died. According to a United Nations official, it would have cost $1 a day to prevent malnutrition among children if the world had responded immediately compared to the $80 it now costs to save a malnourished child’s life.
One dollar a day. Incredible. Half of what I would spend on single cup of coffee. And it’s not just in far-flung places where hunger exists. We have hungry people in our cities, children who go without meals or eat food that’s high in starch and fat because it’s cheap, and who don’t get the fresh meat, vegetables, and fruit they need to grow in a healthy way.
Think of how many times you or your kids say I’m starving. Then think about what starvation means. Most of us have never had to endure true hunger. Or maybe you’ve felt that awful, gnawing feeling in your stomach but you know you can get rid of it quickly. Think of those who can’t.
When I saw images of starving babies as a child I would imagine myself in their place. Now I put myself in the position of their mothers and it breaks my heart to imagine what it’s like to watch your child starve to death in front of you. Can there be any feeling more powerless than to see your children suffer and not be able to do anything to relieve their pain? To hear your children’s cries and not be able to give them anything to sate their hunger?
It seems unfair that we have the luxury to turn down food and in fact, put ourselves on diets because we eat too much, when so much of the world has so little. We have the technology to produce enough food and even get it distributed. By this point, getting enough to eat should be a basic human right. Unfortunately, too often, bad politics and poor planning get in the way.
The Suburban Mom’s “blog” is at suburbanmom.typepad.com. She welcomes comments and suggestions for future column ideas.
