[Engaged] Engaged Topic: Hunger

[Shinshi]

When I think of hunger I think of a condition that arises from sufficient conditions. To me hunger can be good - it lets us know it is time to fuel up. A natural part of life.

But it can also represent a chronic condition for people who do not have enough to eat. Undernourishment has many, many negative aspects. Pain, deterioration of the body, deterioration of mental facilities, negative impact on mood, and so on. A person just cannot thrive without needed nourishment.

And undernourishment can take many forms. Hunger drives us to eat. But what we eat isn't always nourishing. Particularly if you don't have the financial wherewithal, or knowledge, to purchase healthy nourishing foods. One can satisfy hunger but be still be left malnourished. To me one of the building blocks to obesity is using unhealthy foods to satisfy hunger. Much of the inexpensive food sources are highly caloric, but with mostly empty calories.

It is a sad state of affairs that our country is capable of producing so much food, much of it thrown out, while many folks are not receiving adequate nutrition.

My random thoughts when I think about hunger.

Gassho, Shinshi

SaT-LaH

[Troy]

Feeding my kids and the homeless man on the corner where I eat lunch everyday.


Sat2day

[Jundo]

Hunger ...

I believe that we have more than enough food in the world to feed everyone presently on it, but there is a serious distribution and sharing problem. Also, we tend not to use our resources well, especially in the West, where some are hungry and most of the rest of us eat junk and resource wasteful processed foods.

On the other hand, if we are going to prevent hunger, we need to share a whole variety of resources better ... and also control population. We have to all learn to live smaller, eat better too. It really will take some radical changes in our thinking. On the other hand, I also think that capitalism, and modern science such as crop research, have done more to feed the hungry in the modern world than ever in world history. In fact, there are less hungry today than in any past century, by far (as a percentage of the population). On the other hand, we are far away from doing enough when there are still people starving or malnourished around the world and in our own cities.

I personally favor donations to expert, large scale organizations such as "Save the Children" or local food banks, rather than just handing out food and money randomly. On the other hand, we should not just simply keep our distance from hunger and poverty, which sometimes just donating money allows us to do. Religious groups (Buddhist, Christian, all of us) need to keep our focus on helping the poor and hungry as part of our core message. Everyone in this world should be guaranteed a basic minimum of food, housing, education, medical care, physical safety and the like. We are far from that goal yet.

Those are my first quick thoughts.

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

[Kyousui]

Hunger: Never being satisfied no matter how much "I" eat

SAT LAH

[Hoseki]

I first thought about craving. Feeling like I'm being driven to do something, get something or get away from something. Always trying to get away from unpleasantness. After that I thought about my experiences with physical hunger. I tend to get nauseous or shaky when I don't eat enough. This was all very personal stuff. It was only after that did I think of other people who don't have enough to eat or live in food deserts.

Gassho,

Sattoday
Hoseki