Friday, April 13, 2012

I'm Angry

A statement made by the White House following the North Korean missile test yesterday said “North Korea is wasting its money on weapons and propaganda displays while the North Korean people go hungry.”

Read it again. “North Korea is wasting its money on weapons and propaganda displays while the North Korean people go hungry.” Now take a moment and ponder it.

In my opinion, and it is just my opinion, but isn’t that rather hypocritical? Doesn’t the government of this country do exactly the same thing? Or is it okay for the powers-that-be here to spend money on weapons since the majority of ours don’t crash and burn almost immediately after launch?

Oh. Wait. They don’t call it hunger in the U.S. anymore. It’s now termed food insecurity. According to a study released at the end of last year, “In 2010, 17.2 million households, 14.5 percent of households (approximately one in seven), were food insecure, the highest number ever recorded in the United States.” which is a tremendous increase from a study issued by the same people in 2008. Add to that the 6.7 million households that experienced low food security which means normal eating patterns are altered due to financial circumstances.

Think about that for a minute. Okay, go back and read the White House criticism again. To me, it seems pretty damn nervy of this government to use that tactic to poke at that government when the people of this country are facing the same problem.

It’s time to stand up for ourselves and do something about this. I know that. Sadly, I have no solutions. We need new government but the people who could honestly make a difference aren’t the ones who stand a chance of running things. It’s time for all the little people, like you and me to band together and insist on change. Yes, I know that too. But again, I don’t know how to inspire people to breach their comfort zones and step out of their status quo lives to take a chance, possibly risking everything, in order to make things better for future generations. It’s going to take all of us to accomplish that. Yeah, that’s something else I know.

So my question to you is this, and then I’ll leave you to your Happy Hours (What’s so happy about them? Better to spend your hard-earned money on nutritious food than watered-down drinks) what can we, each and every one of us, do to start things moving in a better direction? I suspect the first steps don’t have to be huge. Little things can and will make a difference. Come up with something, pass on the idea, and then go out and do it!

For more information on hunger in the US, because that’s what it truly is the article is here.

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