Where Is The Love?

04/22/2008

Paul Munnis


There is no doubt that we have a world food crisis on our hands. There is not enough food in many nations now and people are eating dirt trying to survive. Food riots are breaking out. The cost of food is rising and our government is doing nothing to provide leadership or to show any kind of compassion.

It’s high time to stop observing that there is a problem and address how it might be solved.

As we look at this crisis we think that the UN is the only Agency with the reach to address the problem. We also have to note that if every country gave something towards a relief effort then many lives could be saved. Yet we are aware of the corruption that surrounded the UN Food for Oil program and we are suspicious.

There is a subset of the problem that belongs exclusively to the U.S. and that is our own people who are hungry right here in America. Hunger is rising across America. There is absolutely no reason to not treat the problem. Children eat first then adults. That’s how it is in a crisis. It is the same in the rest of the world. Consider giving to a local food bank or soup kitchen or homeless shelter or through your Church or other organizations that you trust.

America has an IOU to millions of Iraqi refugees living in hunger and squalor in refugee camps in Syria, Jordan, and Iran. Through an illegal war and occupation we incited a civil war and we created these refugees. We need to feed, clothe, and shelter them and we must find a way to allow them to return home safely. To our shame we are not even discussing the problem. Our government has turned its back on these people.

Long before more money is spent on arms for Iraq we should be caring for these refugees. The fact that we are not -- in my thinking -- adds to the list of crimes against humanity that must be laid at the doorstep of the Bush Administration.

We are also doing nothing about the genocide in Darfur nor helping the hungry and starving in Haiti, these people are crying out for help and America is looking away. The same America that claims to be full of Christian love and charity is acting selfishly.

If our government won’t do the job then we need to take individual responsibility. I am giving to UNICEF and I will take the risk that my money might be stolen or embezzled by crooks, to some degree it matches what my own government does these days with the public purse. Yet I must at least try. Even if only 10 cents out a dollar reached the hungry it will help in a small way that can be amplified by many donors.

If UNICEF is not your favorite outreach then ask your Church leaders what they recommend. If you don’t belong to a Church and can’t go with the UN then consider the International arm of the Red Cross. Search for a solution and you will find one.

We in the mid-west know that two levels of help are needed. The first is to feed the hungry and the second is to establish crops so that next growing season there will be food. Depending on where people are in the world it is either the end of the growing season or the beginning of a new one. We have farm organizations in America that share technology and provide farming assistance to hungry nations. Pick one and support it with a donation. Those nations who will not help must be shunned by the world community.

Because of dollar devaluation we find that food, which is a commodity, is rising to an adjusted price of minus 62% against the former buying power of the dollar. Even if we can’t make up the 62% difference with a larger donation maybe you could have a yard sale or a flea market table and donate the proceeds to feed the hungry. Government isn’t the solution it’s the problem. Only individuals can save these starving people and that means you and me.

Act -- don’t just shake your head and then turn your back on the problem. Time is of the essence.