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why I am taking an accounting of our consumption
12:03 PM, Wednesday, January 2, 2008
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Laura as to your comment... it is an interesting take you have on the pictures, and I think I would like to answer it.99% of the media is controlled by people who want to make you 'feel guilty' for your abundance. I do not disagree with that. I actually have no media entering my home except the internet, and when we are out and about I like to listen to talk radio. But mostly, I feel the media has an agenda and it is make me unhappy with the life I have (and I include commercials in that!) These pictures are taken as part of mental manipulation. To make you "feel" gluttonous. Make you feel "bad". Don't! I feel neither bad nor gluttonous. Mostly, curious. It seems to me that most every picture there (the exceptions in a minute) showed a family with enough to eat for a week. It was interesting for me to see what people around the world consider staples for consumption. For example, I lived in Italy for 4 (short!) months with an Italian lady (who could cook!). I loved looking at those breads and fresh fruits and remembering how yummy it was there.... and laughing at the bottled water (since many Italian cities still use the Roman aquaiduct system to bring in mountain water, many cities have beautifully clear drinking water, but they all buy it. Makes me laugh!) and sighing that the frosted flakes are replacing a traditional (and yummy!) Italian breakfast. And I wonder how much the German family could save off their $500 bill if they cut out the bottled soft drinks, but they also had a lot of fresh veggies. And that American family – I saw the trademarks and signs of 6 different fast food places. And all the junk food, and one small bunch of grapes and a few lonely tomatoes. As far as I could tell, those few fruits were the only things in the picture that were not pre-packaged. There was meat, I realize, but also packaged. I know that is NOT my household consumption in a week. I think this picture is mostly what is spurring me to record what we eat, so I can prove to myself (and the world should they come knocking on my door) that not ALL Americans are so, what word do I want to use.... I would gladly take the food off the table of the Mexican family or the Polish or the Egyptian in trade for the mess on that American table. Look at the fresh fruits and all the veggies and breads and spices – you know those are gonna be good eats. All of those families looked like they had enough to eat, larger families and all. Those foods look filling and if it was not fancy, they were not starving. And I wonder how I can add some of those fresh foods to our diet. It is only the last three pictures that had me start wondering about enough. Not just enough to not starve, but enough to nourish growing bodies. But those families from Equador and Bhutan probably also do a lot of their own food production. Not a lot of meats, a lot of rice and potatoes. Again, probably not as bad a diet as the American, could you suppliment a few items. And only the picture of the Chadian family made me feel bad. not for me, but for them. that there are evil people in the world who want power and money so bad that they kill those who stand in their way and force mothers and fathers and children into camps where there is no chance to work for their food and have to depend so on the charity of strangers across the world. That is the picture that I felt was out of place and had no business being in a mosaic of eating habits around the world. I would love to see what this family would be eating if they SAFE were in their own homes in their own land and eating what they would eat if given their choice instead what they are given. How about looking at it like this: God has abundantly blessed us in the United States of America, so that we may serve other countries in need. Let's grab some stats showing how many BILLIONS (that is with a B) of pounds of food we send to different countries EVERY YEAR. Let's look at WHO is first to help a country when a Natural Disaster happens? Let's look at WHO is first to come to financial aid? And WHO sends the most people into God-forsaken places, to provide FREE medicine, dental, and so on.... UM, THAT WOULD BE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!! God has blessed us, Americans, abundantly. So that we would be fully equipped to do His Will. 2 Corinthians 9:11 (interesting number for Americans) YOU will be made rich in every way so that you can be GENEROUS on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in Thanksgiving to God. This is one of MANY Scriptures that talks about equipping. So if God is equipping us, then it is Good. What *we* chose to do with this equipping is between God and us. I totally agree with everything you said here. We have been abundantly blessed with resources. I believe we live in a choice land for so many reasons, and I also believe that God expects us to help others where and when we can. That He has given us this abundance to share. I would be able to get every last thing on this page at the grocery store in town (all right, maybe not in my small town here, but Salt Lake at least). And I think there is a lot here that I should be eating and am not. So my point in this, I guess, is to see what we really need and use that instead of what is easy or convenient and, well, wasteful of resources, both edible and packaging. If we are neglectful, He will deal with us!! Don't let 'man' make you feel bad because God has blessed you!! so, I do not feel bad for being blessed. If I feel bad at all, it is that I do not exercise good stewardship over that with which the Lord HAS blessed me. Leave a Comment { Last Page } { Page 42 of 206 } { Next Page } |
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