Hunger Games
— Henry A. Kissinger
Hunger is the deadliest weapon of all, and for years after years, this weapon has been used to exploit opportunities for personal gain. It’s an elemental force transcending geographical boundaries affecting all races and genders. When crisis hits, people don’t think about shelters over their heads or at worst, forget what stands for humanity. It’s a game of survival we all are in for eternity and visionary(!) foreign policies tend to strike right here to take control; you control that gnawing sensation of the stomach, you control people, and the cycle continues until the ultimate purpose is served. Otherwise, we won’t see commercial ships carrying foods sunken at the bottom of the ocean.
Enough blabbering with politics— I never tried to understand it and guess I won’t ever give it a try.
But I do understand how it feels to be hungry and thirsty. Not that I have been to deserts and lost my way home but it’s a religious thing I am observing right now. I did it in the past, it is observed every year without a break for a 30-day streak. Sometimes 29; depends on the moon. Ramadan as Muslims call it— a month-long ritual of personal sacrifice to experience people’s misery first-hand. Many of you are familiar with it I believe. It’s really challenging, I tell you.
So, you have all the food and drinks but you aren’t enjoying anything from sunrise to sunset— a strict rule to be followed to participate. There are other rules too, but most of them are beyond my little religious knowledge; such a shame.
But what do you get from all that…
Beyond religious benefits, you know all those promises, what I think you get is your understanding of people’s suffering for food across the world. It teaches you how it feels to be without food and water, how your body reacts, how your mood swings even though you know you can eat all that you can right after the sunset.
But the problem is, we still don’t get the message. Like, we all starve, maintain the ritual till dawn to dusk but at the end of the month when it’s over, we don’t care about all the food we waste. We forget how it feels to be without food, we refuse to stretch our arms to those in need. But the amount of food we waste on a regular basis, that’s enough to support a few hungry souls. Not that we all waste food on purpose, sometimes we have no choice but to throw it away.
Unfortunately, though, our careless actions sometimes put others in great misery. There is no alternative to be more careful about what we do with our food source and overall consumption. Some societies have some bizarre food traits on occasion, this is quite disappointing. It’s okay to eat but there should be a limit, and I guess deep frying a whole camel to eat isn’t a good idea for a handful of people while thousands of people are out there struggling to bring food to the family even for once a day. This brings the class system to the foreground, but, that’s not the point. As a human being, we should be empathetic to all— and this month could be a great start for a specific religious community; let’s not waste it.
Ⓒ mine
At home, we always practice not to waste food.
That's truly remarkable, keep up the habit and inspire others to do the same.
There are so many people who are very hungry and the crazy thing is that things are now becoming very expensive
Food is not meant to be wasted and it is even sad that we don’t have surplus food
Price hike is an issue globally, that's true and it is really concerning for poor and middle-class families. We have limited sources of food, if we waste them without consideration, who knows how long it may last....although innovation continues to fight food crisis, being careful in food consumption might aid in their efforts more and more.
Completely agree with you here. Food is being used as a weapon 100% right now and there is absolutely no justification for any of it besides manipulation and control by the powers that shouldn’t be. It’s some sick stuff and something I truly hope we can get past, it’s entirely manufactured of an issue. Then there’s also the notion to replace healthy food that a lot of people eat with genetically modified poison to make people sick and dependent on pharmaceutical companies for relief. It’s a big cycle of crazy!
People affected by war and other issues are too busy mending for themselves rather than thinking about how food supply is being used as a weapon and using this chance, propagandists are pushing their agenda into the public domain but making them look natural. So pathetic.
And the GMO foods you mention, can you imagine they are cheaper than naturally-grown foods? It's a trap, those foods look better, they are enormous but in nutritional value, not so much. Some of them also cause diseases if consumed long-term, still, we are so cleverly brainwashed that we ignore the danger and happily go along. It's not our fault though, not even who grows them but when it comes to commercial value, GMO wins, unfortunately.