Tasty Tuesday: A Different Spin

Every Tuesday many of us in the blog world follow the theme of Tasty Tuesday.  We share recipes we love, recipes of foods we want to try, epic fails in the cooking/baking world, diets, how we eat, and so much more.

This Tuesday I don't have a recipe or a pin or a failure to share.

Well...maybe it is a failure.

A catastrophic American failure.

In the land of milk and honey we have kids who only eat at school because no one can or will feed them at home.

In the land of lavish living there are people sleeping on park benches, side ditches, and in wooded areas.

In the land of more is better less is bad families wait on soup trucks and kitchens for sustanance.

In the land where we get to choose our leaders there is a whole community being failed.

The ability to have nourishment and nutrition is a human right.  It has been a soap box issue for me since college and since experiencing and witnessing hungry people in a hands on course my senior year of college.  I saw hunger with my own eyes.

Hunger effects every single human action and interaction.

When we are hungry our cognitive abilities decrease.  If you get down to the bare bones of it we are animals who sit at the top of the food chain.  When we are hungry our brains only focus on one thing:  get food.

Hungry kids cannot learn.

Hungry adults cannot focus.

Hunger is a degradation of moving forward.

When we are hungry our bodies do not work to our benefit.  We become more lethargic and less productive.  Our insulin levels plummet and our bodies work to survive instead of thrive.

We we are hungry we are not strong in any way, shape, or form.

America the beautiful?

If we are one of the most, if not the most powerful and rich country in the world, then why do we have hungry men, women, and children?

Why do we have an epidemic of homelessness?

Is it because we turn a blind eye to the things that show our flaws?  Do we feel the need to focus on other country's impoverished versus our own because we know deep down it is pitiful shame that we have the issues of poverty and hunger in our own nation?

I ask so many questions because they actually burn on my mind and in my heart.

There is nothing beautiful about a country that puts other nations' people ahead of their own struggling people.  Before anything can be changed on the outside we have to change what is happening on the inside.

Anyone with a problem whether it is a disease or a lifestyle choice knows that change can only start within oneself - no one else can instigate true change in a person.  The same goes for our country - before we can save the world we need to save our own piece of earth.

Our choice

As Americans who are "blessed" or "graced" with a full cupboard, refridgerator, and pantry we need to recognize our "wealth" and work to do what I think we were born to do - pay it forward.  You have food safety?  Good.  Now make sure someone else does.

Buy an extra couple of non perishable food goods and actually deliver them to the food pantry in your neighborhood.

Buy an extra burger and the drive thru and give it to the guy on the corner with the cardboard sign.  Who cares if he's got a stash of whatever wherever - you're job is to take care of those around you. We were created to care for one another - whether it is by risking our lives or by giving our time.

Step out of your comfort zone.  I did it in college and I'll be doing it again tonight.  I'll go where my mind tells me to stay away from and offer hot meals to people who so many of us look down on.  They made and some continue to make bad choices.  They take the "wrong" path.  They get the side glances and whispers.

Some are hungry for food.

Some are hungry for a fix.

Some are hungry to know maybe somebody cares about them.

I challenge you this Tasty Tuesday to not just feed yourselves but feed the ones who need it the most.  Step out of your comfort zone and help someone in need - donate a meal, join a food mission for at least one trip.

Take care of one another.

Food is a great way.