I was asked to take the London Food Bank Challenge recently and spend only $30 for a week’s groceries in much the same way families do that earn less than $20,000 per year.
I smelled Pulitzer, said OK, created a shopping list, bought my grub for the week, wrote and submitted my column (moments ago and on the right side of the deadline) to The Londoner about my experience.
However, I didn’t write about how it felt to don a frilly apron and do my own cooking for a change or how closely I was able to stick to my $30 budget.
Sure, good stories both, but even as I wrote my short grocery list, and I do mean short, I began to feel uneasy about my motives, and other things, so went in a different direction instead.
I was partly influenced by Greg’s post about the matter (at From My Bottom Step by fowgre) and my own conscience, which surprisingly sounded a lot like my Mother when she told me, at age four, I should eat the crusts of my toast because there were starving children In India who didn’t even have that much for breakfast.
(If I recall correctly, I told her that if they wanted my crusts they could have them. Smart ass right from the get go, eh?)
Greg was right when he wrote:
“One week is hardly enough time to gain much of an appreciation for the kinds of choices that have to be made on such a low income.”
Though my Mother was correct as well I wrote that we tend to grow our cities and economies in wasteful and unsustainable ways, thereby leaving many citizens far behind.
If there is a road toward empathy for others I don’t think our society as a whole is on it.
No comments:
Post a Comment