CHILD HUNGER -- THE SCOURGE OF THE PLANET

What do you do if your child says to you "I'm hungry"?

Or, if you don't have a child, what do you recall happening when you said this when you were a kid?

In most cases, I'd assume, Mum/Dad arranged a snack -- or advised you to get it yourself.

Well, guess what: For a lot of kids, food is a luxury. And I'm not even talking about the Third World nations that the "developed world" has so callously exploited and plundered.

Right here in the United States we have our own Third World. I'm not kidding. The distribution of wealth is that criminal -- and has been from Day 1. An alarming number of kids are regularly without enough food. I've read varying reports but I think you'd be pretty safe in saying that something like one in four kids goes to bed hungry at night in America.

ONE IN FOUR! HUNGRY! Not "I need a snack" hungry. I mean empty-belly hungry. Shame on us all for allowing this to happen! Just because these aren't our kids doesn't mean we should ignore this crisis. Here's a news flash: They're all our kids.

Please sign this important petition right now.

And don't stop there. Search the Web for other things you can do/sign/learn about hunger and poverty. Sponsor a child through World Vision or a similar reputable organization (it costs virtually nothing!). Go without something to give to someone more needy. You can afford it and you know it.

But definitely, DEFINITELY, contact your mayors, representatives, senators, prime ministers and presidents and tell them that child hunger -- and poverty in general -- is not okay by you. Write a letter to the editor of your local or city paper -- you can do it online these days. Call up your favorite talk show. But get off your butt and do something.

When there is enough noise, politicians listen.

This is a big issue, but every step counts.

Nothing troubles me more than the rampant poverty on this planet. There is no reason for it. There is enough wealth, enough food. The enforced "vagaries" of capitalist market economics even sees perfectly good food -- "excess production" -- dumped!

Til my last breath I'm going to make some kind of effort to rectify this. And there's nothing at all heroic about that. It's my duty as a privileged human being.

What are you going to do?

Take care and simply... care,
Adrian Zupp
IF THIS POST WAS OF INTEREST TO YOU, I invite you to also take a look at EVERY CHILD COUNTS.