Thursday The Washington Post carried a story about an “unjust shaming” of a girl who had thrown away a package of waffles into the trash. The cafeteria monitor retrieved the waffles and forced the girl to eat them. Evidently, someone took a video that became viral. As the recipient of a school breakfast program, she was told she was not grateful.
Food waste has always been connected to moral issues. From the time we were told to clean our plates as children because children were starving someplace else -- as if eating what we were served would help starving children – to throwing out food, the questions of how we eat and what we eat are moral issues.
But simply telling someone that the amount of food waste could feed hungry people really doesn’t address the issue, which is why is it we have hunger in the wealthiest country in the world. Perhaps that is where we should begin the conversation.
Prayer for the Day
Searching for answers in our lives, we come to you, O God;
Burdened by the cares we have, we turn to you, Spirit of hope,
For we long for the peace that only you can give.
Be in our midst, Holy One, as we worship you,
And help us to share your peace with others.
In the name of him who is our example of faithfulness,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower, General, President (1890-1969)
The real cause of hunger is the powerlessness of the poor to gain access to the resources they need to feed themselves.
- Frances Moore Lappe, American writer on hunger policy
The Lord rises to argue the case and stands to judge among the peoples.
The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and princes of the people;
It is you who have devoured the vineyard;
The spoil of the poor in in your houses.
What do you mean by crushing my people,
By grinding the face of the poor?
Says the Lord God of hosts.
Isaiah 3: 13-15