Sept. 10, 2002 - 17:15 PDT

THE WONDERING JEW

Oh,I Remember

I was young once, really I was -- and about as dumb as a little kid can be. In my memory are the times when I balked at cleaning my plate and some darn grown up or another would say, "There are children starving in China, India," or some place on earth beyond my comprehension of just how far away it was. I would grit my teeth and growl under my breath, "Why don't we send it to them instead of making me eat the rotten stuff.

Broken record me, then the Great Depression hit! I knew before long what hungry meant. Hot dogs and Pinto beans before long became so revolting to me that I often wondered how long I could hold out going without them. Even so, occasionally manna would drop from above, which was better than folks in foreign lands could expect. Once Dad won several baskets of groceries at our local Moving Palace on Grocery Night. Mom doled the goodies out little by little to give us a bit of a break from beans and weinies.

As I grew older and began to get an idea of the condiotions around our earth I began to realiz that t here were actually pepole starving to death in other places. Some of our own people came close to starvation in Appalachia and diseases caused by such poor diet did awful things to them. Was it in the Bible where it said, "The poor we will have with us always," maybe so, I wonder if that doesn't apply to the starving people?

Our country's efforts to alleviate the situation seems to have only made those in power well fed and a darn sight rich while the groceroies were passed among the favored few.

Is there a solution ? I don't know. In Zimbabwe there are school children who are starving, whose energy is so low they can't pay much attention or stay awake loing enough to learn anything. Regardless of the political situation, one thing stands out in my mind, the farmers of European ancestry were making a go of their farms, people were eating. Now with the Zimbabwe's so called land reform those farmers have been dispossessd and appartently no one is watching the store or doesn't have the money to plant the seeds and the know how to bring a crop to fruition.

There were peaceful ways for the farmers and the government to come to some kind of agreement before people started to starve. Africa is populated with many different people who have been starving for centuries, survival is the exception. India, Bangladesh, Pakistan the same way. I think Mother Teresa spent her life trying to help there -- with little effect overall. I am sure there are pockets of hunger in Asia too. South America has their share of malnourished folks. Looks to me as if hunger and starvation are the norm worldwide. Now potable water shortage is getting worse, which spreads disease. Starving people are especially prone to whatever bug is going around and lack of clean water makes the situation worse.

Will there ever be a way found to feed all people with healthy food? I don't know, it begins to look doubtful to me. I do hope and pray that something happens to alleviate that gnawing rat eating away at the vitals of humans.

Now today in my mind the thought that as a kid I had such a selfish attitude. Do I remember that they said, "There are starving children who would love to have that," can I think that I once said that ? Do I remember the times that was said to me? Oh, I Remember . . . . . . . . . . .

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