Convicted

Christmas stocking update: my boy returned it to me and said, “now you have to erase your blog”. I won’t do that as I still think there is a lot of symbolism there.

On to my new year’s focus. I don’t typically make what I call resolutions, but I have started having a focus for the year. This year, two have risen to the top – one practical every day living challenge and one more relational. I will start with the practical.

Convicted

“THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN GET AMERICANS TO NOTICE ANYTHING IS TO TAX THEM OR DRAFT THEM OR KILL THEM.” Owen Meany in A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

We Americans have an uncanny ability to live with tunnel vision. It is easiest to comfortably ignore and choose to not see how we affect those around us and those across the world. I was confronted with my own myopic living as I recently listened to a podcast addressing food waste. The staggering statistic that 1/3 of food that is grown in our world ends up being wasted or lost  along the way, while at the same time starving and food insecure people abound, made my stomach lurch. And the reality that my own country wastes up to 40% of food and is without a doubt the major culprit hits hard.

Many of us are spoiled and used to eating what we want when we want it. If we don’t feel like a certain cuisine, we have ready access to another. We will literally let things rot because we over buy and then forget about the abundant fresh food sitting in our refrigerator. Sometimes we simply don’t feel like consuming that which we have already purchased or grown.

I can’t succinctly lay out the arguments and evidence for why our gluttonous and wasteful ways affect human beings across the planet and add to our world’s hunger issues, but they do. Others have made the clear connections and we have access to hear and read about it – I am convinced that this is true. It is our responsibility to pay attention, be willing to listen and read and take it to heart as individuals and a society.

This is a giant and complex problem and involves farming practices, restaurant and grocery store behavior, etc and can easily get tossed into the “nothing that I personally do will make a difference in this situation – it is too big.” But just as a bucket of water can be ultimately filled one drop at a time, I can do my little part. Some things that came to heart and mind as I listened and considered small changes that matter:

1. Pay attention to the food that is sitting in my refrigerator, especially in the drawers. If a fresh vegetable or fruit is reaching the end of its’ edible life, go ahead and cook it and freeze it for another day.
2. Put a bit of thought into what we will reasonably consume before going to the grocery store. Look around and see what is already available in my own stock pile before buying more. Make it a point to use up what already fills our cabinets before it gets lost in the shuffle.
3. This list could be much longer, but for me, this is a responsible start.

I truly desire to keep this from becoming a dogmatic, rule following exercise. I have learned that such an approach doesn’t work too well for me. Rather, my hope is that it becomes something that I pay more everyday attention to as I feed myself and my people. Acknowledging that my little drop in the bucket is important and matters is a first step. How I behave does in fact have ripple effects that travel way out into the world. Inspired and convicted by the words of Owen Meany, I want to NOTICE and be mindful in my everyday choices as an American and as a human being. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

If interested in the particular podcast referenced, you can find it here.