I really don't want this post to be a cliche "be thankful for what you have" rant, but a couple things have come up and I'm feeling that exact sentiment. First of all, last week I had coffee with a former student of mine who is currently building a school in Uganda. The story is simple. He visited Uganda. Fell in love with the people. Came home and raised money. Went back and began the project. Okay, it wasn't entirely that simple, but he is not associated with any large charity. He's raising money through donations from people and churches (you know, the old fashioned way). When he's in Uganda, he washes his clothes by hand, walks a mile and a half for water, lives off of simple food stuffs and labors everyday with the people from his village to build a school. A school that children will walk two to three miles to attend. And he couldn't be happier. They mold each brick by hand and he has suffered from malaria about 85 times (that's a exact count, of course). Here's his blog if you want to check it out or donate a few bucks!
So while we are having coffee he relates a story of when he is telling some of the kids about America and happens to tell them about our pets. So he describes dogs and all the care we take of them and one of the kids says that he wishes he could come to America and be Ryan's dog.
So that gets me thinking. Our pets drink cleaner water in America than many people drink around the world. My dog certainly has a shorter walk to the source. Most dogs (not so much mine) go to the vet regularly whereas many children around the world have never seen a doctor. My dog eats to his heart's content daily and many people around the world are starving.
Then a couple days later, in a weak moment, I typed in yahoo.com into my search bar because I was bored and I wondered what non-news stories were being covered on their homepage today. The first story that popped up was the wedding of Kim Kardashian. I'm sure you've already assumed where this is going and you don't need me to tell you to "count your blessings," and "prioritize," but I do think we all need reminders. Kim Kardashian's cake alone cost $20,000 and stood 6 feet tall. It was designed to feed 440 guests. I'm sure there were that many guests in attendance, however, the cake was not served. Guests ate pieces from some behind-the-scenes-sheet cake. I have been preoccupied all night with several questions.. "why?" is obviously my first question. Where did all that cake go? How much did the secondary cake cost? But I just keep coming back to why? I mean, seriously? I know many celebrities live extravagant and wasteful lives, but I think that this story, in context to my conversation with Ryan, just really felt appalling. I know Kim Kardashian donates to charities, but man $20,000 would feed a lot more than 440 Somalis.
I love to cook and I love to share food and I absolutely HATE to see food go to waste. I will cut mold off of bread or cheese, consume products past their expiration dates, re-use leftovers in far too many ways -- anything to keep from throwing food away. It's because I feel so grateful to have enough food and to be able to afford "fancy" foods like gourmet cheeses and flavored vinegars.
I just thought it was a nice reminder for myself so I thought I'd share with you.
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