Janie Slaven: BURKHART: Two worlds, both insecure
Jun. 4—Of the eight billion people on earth, over three billion lack adequate money/resources to attain food security — with about a thousand of these three billion dying daily.
This United Nations' statistics identifies that those of us who have food security, have never experienced hunger — 2-3 days without food. Therefore, it is difficult for us to understand food deprivation and the threat of starvation.
The chasm that divides the "haves" from the "have nots" is rarely acknowledged by either. It is like two different worlds, neither trespassing nor comprehending the other.
The desperately poor/starving are unable to imagine what it is like to be well fed and to have regular access to a bounty of food. The well-fed, never experiencing serious hunger, are unable to understand or imagine the severity of food depravity — living on the threshold of starvation.
This is the major reason the destitute of the world are easily ignored by the rest of the world. We tend to be insecure — staying pre-occupied and obsessed with our own daily concerns — children, job, bills, marriage, careers, and health.
We "haves" for the most part, identify our days as full of difficulties and stresses. We all can identify with Jesus' direction, "Deny yourself and take-up your cross daily and follow me." [Luke 9:23] Even those of us blessed with abundance and every amenity, view life as constantly "uphill," with drudgery, disappointments, failures, and uncertainties.
Every human being has reason to define living on earth as never without pain; with everyone's future predictably precarious.
Yet those in abject depravation — denied the necessities of life, see us "havers" as having it all — without an ache or pain, wallowing in our wretched excess. It is true, we often are so preoccupied with "our abundance" that any concern for the less fortunate is diffused.
One thing is for sure, none of us on earth are living in enchantment. Understanding who we are and where we are is important. No one has the world by the tail. We are all weak, limited, confused, unstable — HUMAN!
Facing our inevitable struggles in this finite world of daily challenges and difficulties, where can we find joy, peace, and success? Perhaps the first step is understanding the very nature of ourselves and the world around us as never perfect or permanent.
We are each precious and uniquely created to care for one another — to love one another. Our enjoyment of life on earth is commensurate to our serving/helping each other. May we each not be so capsulated in our world that the depravations of the three billion poor be ignored.
