I get in modes where I can speak and feel the most clearly. It usually happens after an experience during the day made me feel momentarily "real" or alive or focused or whatever you want to call it.
It's been below freezing for the last few days after a period of hot weather which reached all the way up to the low 80's. The sudden drop was shocking. It was painful to walk anywhere even the mile to class and I wanted as little exposure to the outside as possible.
When I got home today I realized our house was around the same temperature as outdoors and fiddled with the thermostat a few times before coming to the conclusion that it was definitely broken. As I sat under three blankets in Ava's bed with warm tea and my hands barely able to work my computer, resentment seized my thoughts. I was honestly in a near state of panic, as I anticipated trying to study and sleep in the icy apartment.
After standing in the kitchen with Ava until the stove sufficiently heated the room to the point where I could feel my toes, the thought occurred to me, "people live without heat."
What?
I'm so accustomed to having heat, air conditioning, running water, and easy-to-make food that I can't even imagine what it would be like not to have them ALL. After paying my rent, bills, buying groceries and making a few other unnecessary purchases, I ran out of money for the month. With a simple phone call to my mom I had $40 enroute to me within an hour. Easy.
What is it like not to have everything you need or want?
I talk about poverty and the problems the world faces like I even sort of grasp them. It occurred to me today, that the bottom line is I don't. I do not know what it's like not to have food, a warm bed, whatever education I decide upon and then on top of that, all the things I want.
For the first time I had my first batch of real understanding (and a shallow bit at that) or clarity if you will. While applying for the Peace Corps, they tell you that you may not have air, or running water, or any of the comforts you're used to and I dismissed them all like I could handle or even comprehend what living without them would possibly be like.
People survive without their basic needs everyday and must constantly struggle. They fight. They fight just to live, everyday. It's a miracle that humans have evolved to the point of mastering agriculture and communication so we as a species don't need to worry about feeding or keeping ourselves alive but why can't we master how to turn this into a state of peace among ourselves? We have enough food to feed the whole world population and the ability to have tranquillity among us and to bring all people out of the constant "survival state" yet we are not even close to there yet. Human shortcomings make that dream shatter as greed and power poison so many among us. How do you teach compassion?
Humans are a miracle.
Does the world produce enough food to feed everyone?
It's been below freezing for the last few days after a period of hot weather which reached all the way up to the low 80's. The sudden drop was shocking. It was painful to walk anywhere even the mile to class and I wanted as little exposure to the outside as possible.
When I got home today I realized our house was around the same temperature as outdoors and fiddled with the thermostat a few times before coming to the conclusion that it was definitely broken. As I sat under three blankets in Ava's bed with warm tea and my hands barely able to work my computer, resentment seized my thoughts. I was honestly in a near state of panic, as I anticipated trying to study and sleep in the icy apartment.
After standing in the kitchen with Ava until the stove sufficiently heated the room to the point where I could feel my toes, the thought occurred to me, "people live without heat."
What?
I'm so accustomed to having heat, air conditioning, running water, and easy-to-make food that I can't even imagine what it would be like not to have them ALL. After paying my rent, bills, buying groceries and making a few other unnecessary purchases, I ran out of money for the month. With a simple phone call to my mom I had $40 enroute to me within an hour. Easy.
What is it like not to have everything you need or want?
I talk about poverty and the problems the world faces like I even sort of grasp them. It occurred to me today, that the bottom line is I don't. I do not know what it's like not to have food, a warm bed, whatever education I decide upon and then on top of that, all the things I want.
For the first time I had my first batch of real understanding (and a shallow bit at that) or clarity if you will. While applying for the Peace Corps, they tell you that you may not have air, or running water, or any of the comforts you're used to and I dismissed them all like I could handle or even comprehend what living without them would possibly be like.
People survive without their basic needs everyday and must constantly struggle. They fight. They fight just to live, everyday. It's a miracle that humans have evolved to the point of mastering agriculture and communication so we as a species don't need to worry about feeding or keeping ourselves alive but why can't we master how to turn this into a state of peace among ourselves? We have enough food to feed the whole world population and the ability to have tranquillity among us and to bring all people out of the constant "survival state" yet we are not even close to there yet. Human shortcomings make that dream shatter as greed and power poison so many among us. How do you teach compassion?
Humans are a miracle.
Does the world produce enough food to feed everyone?
The world produces enough food to feed everyone. World agriculture produces 17 percent more calories per person today than it did 30 years ago, despite a 70 percent population increase. This is enough to provide everyone in the world with at least 2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day (FAO 2002, p.9). The principal problem is that many people in the world do not have sufficient land to grow, or income to purchase, enough food.
[SOURCE: World Hunger]
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