hunger

with thanksgiving coming up where the average american is going to nearly gorge his/herself to death (i admit i'll be one of those people because i cook delicious food), there are still a lot of people who go hungry everyday in this country, including children. as if this very situation isn't inhumane enough for one of the wealthiest countries in the world, the u.s. agricultural department has decided to rid the term 'hunger' in its recent report on americans struggling to feed themselves and their families.

the terms 'low food security' and 'very low food security' have replaced 'food insecurity without hunger' and 'food insecurity with hunger' to describe the 35 million americans who have a difficult time getting enough to eat. uh, so should we now refer to poverty as 'low financial security' and 'very low financial security'? what better way to resolve the issue of hunger than to simply throw out the word? let's also throw out 'peace' so we won't have to pursue it anymore. (but then, what else would beauty queens want more than anything else in the world? hm...)

redefining a situation doesn't get rid of it. hunger, no matter how you want to word it, exists. not that you should feed everyone this holiday but be thankful that you're not struggling with hunger.

if you want to help, contact your local charity center to locate your nearest community soup kitchen. for new yorkers, contact new york city coalition against hunger - http://www.nyccah.org/index.html.