So, on Ash Wednesday I made the decision to fast--I was hoping it would lead to some sort of spiritual clarity. It all started off ok--Water and Weleda Liver Tea for breakfast. By midday I was getting a little sluggish and by the evening all I seemed to be able to gather was that I was depriving myself of food and therefore muddling my mood. In the later night I even gave in and with a friend I ate the dinner I had skipped earlier--I felt that I was holding to my fast for all the wrong reasons and was unable to carry through with the whole thing. Instead of finding the internal strength I thought I was missing, I just provided fuel for my poor mood. I didn't want to think of my fasting experience as something I had to feel bitter about or to regret with some sort of vengeance.
However, I did come to grips with this very scary and rapidly growing disaster known as hunger. Even for as little as ten hours, I felt the beginnings of hunger pains. I feel a little unable to quantitatively equate my experience with people who are actually experiencing far worse fates than mine on a day-to-day basis, but I feel that my experience helped to open my eyes to the absolute terror of this epidemic. If we compared those who are not able to fill their bellies each day to those who just completely take for granted the availability of not just any food, but organic, local, wholesome food, I feel very selfish. I prefer organic food and good-quality food which I know is quote-unquote better than "other" food. But how often could I have helped others! Food in itself is amazing. The sheer quantity of edible things in the world is more than anything I could ever count. How many different seeds, roots, flowers, branches are taken from the ground specifically so mammals, etc could consume them?
What would it be like if no one had ever to suffer with an empty stomach?
