In recent months, my heart and mind have been turned toward global thinking. For too long, I've lived life wrapped in a cocoon. The question I am finding that I ask myself often as of late is "Am I really poor?" Not by America's standard, but by the world's standard. We are struggling right now. Feeling deprived, because we can't have everything we want. I wrote about what I am doing about it the other day HERE.
I decided my kids and I should conduct a little experiment. We took everything out of our cabinets and pantry and put it ALL on our kitchen table.
How can this be considered poor when the people of Haiti are eating this?
Haitians trick empty bellies with dirt cookies.
By Jonathan M. Katz
Associated Press / January 31, 2008
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - It was lunchtime in one of Haiti's worst slums, and Charlene Dumas was eating mud.
With food prices rising, Haiti's poorest can't afford even a daily plate of rice, and some take desperate measures to fill their bellies.
Charlene, 16 with a 1-month-old son, has come to rely on a traditional Haitian remedy for hunger pangs: cookies made of dried yellow dirt from the country's central plateau.
I am NOT poor.
edited to add: This is my post for WFMW and Watercooler Wednesday.
16 comments:
Yeah, we're as "poor" as you are...and we have a freezer full of meat and a pantry full of food...and on and on. Thanks for the reminder that we are so very rich.
My husband was telling me about this the other day. It is so sad. Your pantry is overflowing compared to what these people have.
Toni
Positively one of the best examples to show our kids and ourselves I've seen in a long while! Bravo for you and yours!
I have taken a couple days off work to deal with the clutter that has accumulated in my house. Clutter is another way of saying "too much stuff". Pulling things out of their hiding places emphasizes how much too much we have. It helps to curb my impulse to buy more. I think that your idea of looking at all that you have instead of thinking of what you don't is a powerful one.
How right you are! Our family (3 kiddos) is considered poor by average American standards, however we are SO RICH in the things that cannot be counted! Many of our wealthier friends are often envious of us, as we are not "owned" by our stuff! I am truly blessed - thanks for reminding me!
One of my favorite books on this subject is by Peter Menzel - "What the World Eats".
See if your library has it - and read through it with your kids...it will show them how much better off they are than so many people in the world.
Excellent post and great outlook!
This is a very touching post. Thank you so much for the picture of your pantry, it really made your point.
That's a powerful thought and something that we should all be mindful of. Thanks for sharing and for opening my eyes to all of the blessingst that God's gives me every day.
Wow. Your comparison pictures really hit home. I love that you included your kids in this. My husband and I have been talking lately about how we can show our kids what it means to be content and thankful in all circumstances and that even when we do have much, not to hoard it. Thank you for making my core hurt.
Wonderful post to make me consider all that I have! I too am a single mother, struggled through a very difficult marriage and came through to the light at the end. Your story is inspiring to me and, I am sure, to others. Thank you for sharing it.
Ah, perspective. It's a good thing, isn't it?
Here's a little video someone pointed me to last week that I cannot get out of my head:
http://www.godtube.com/diostebendiga
Amen! amen! amen...... oh, and amen! *lol*
We're on our country's 'poverty line' as well, which -I believe- is even higher than in the states....
It's a dead shame for people here to complain about how little they've got, or they can't even afford a vacation abroad.. man.. you have food, drink, clothing and a roof, you have everything you need.
My husband is from an island just underneath Haiti, and a lot of Haitians will come there to try and find work. They are known for working especially hard, and only requiring ONE meal a day. Talk about being humble....
One thing that opened my eyes was the 'global footprint' test. You can google for it, they've got about 20 different versions of it. Now, we're on the poverty line right.. and we're living a really humble, simple life (in dutch standards) - yet, if everyone lived the way we do, we would require 4 planets to make that possible.
In other words.. we only have it this good, because the other 75% of the people are... well.. eating dirt cookies. What a terrible thought!
Greetings from the netherlands! :)-
You make a very good point in this post.
God put the United States on the earth as a beacon of hope for freedom, and it has largely worked out so well that our poverty is considered wealth in many nations. Still, our culture has become wrapped around the concept of stuff. It's the one thing that George Carlin may have had right, his condemnation of the consumerist culture. People get stuff all day, then store their stuff, then move to bigger houses to store their stuff while they go out and get more stuff. Ridiculous.
The poor man killed today at a Wal-Mart was an employee. You couldn't pay me enough to do that job on that day. Initially I thought, after reading the story, that perhaps the buyers would have some real remorse, yet videos of the aftermath show laughing. Such ignorance is hardly pardonable.
www.offeringcommonsense.blogspot.com
I was just explaining this to my kids the other day when we were eating leftovers...again. My kids have seen this story about the Haitians eating mud pies, so I reminded them how blessed we were to be eating the same thing for three days, because we had enough for three days, and it wasn't dirt or mud. My oldest (who is almost eight) had an "ah ha" moment. We are blessed. Very blessed.
Awesome post, thank you. We are similarly "poor". I read years ago an article about a woman in Mexico mixing cups of dirt with her tortilla dough to make it stretch further. Whenever I feel "poor", I think of her.
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