Have you ever felt Hunger?

Today I went shopping with my mom. And we spent almost 3 hours trying on and off stuff till the trolley was pretty much full. Though I was going shopping for the first time in 6 months and tried to buy only the necessities but still ended up feeling terrible about it. There were clothes, food, crockery, grocery, shoes, masks you name it.

And I was soooo tired. So damn tired.

My head hurt, I was hot, I was hungry, my body shivered cuz of weakness and my legs… Gosh, they felt like hell. They were aching so bad I couldn’t stand.

Tired of shopping!!!! Let that sink in.

And I am not the only one who will relate to this. There are many people who do the same. And if you are one of them, please read this.

I came home and somehow got through my afternoon prayer (I am Muslim). And when I got to the dining table completely blinded by hunger, I saw that my favorite chicken dish was almost over. I was fuming. Mad. Upset. Hurt. Everything. I wanted to scream so loud at everyone. I decided I would get angry later cuz otherwise, I may die of hunger. I took the chicken plate to the kitchen and put it in the microwave to heat. And as I was heating the food I wondered “What if I was poor?”

What if I was one of those kids on the street who have no home or food or shoes or microwaves to heat? And when I got hungry, all I could do was beg and watch others eat.

I was still hungry, but I didn’t feel it. It just went away. I felt a mixture of many other things instead, bitter, sad, grateful… I felt so bad for all those children. But more than anything I felt guilt.

While all I had to do was go to the kitchen, open the fridge, and get food out whenever I was hungry.

A poor child on the street didn’t have any of that. He didn’t even have the bare necessity, food.

What I am eating right now he can just watch from a distance but could never get unless a kind person gave him some. God how horrible it is!!!!

The microwave beeped. But I just stared at the food inside imagining the little boy we saw outside the bakery today. He just sat there on the road with a hand stretched out and looking longingly at the food and at each person who came to buy. Even though we gave him some bread, how long will it last? He can’t peacefully sit at a table and eat without having to think about the next meal. He will have to go back to staring and feeling the hunger. Only to eat a little from other’s charity.

How lucky are we? Do we even realize that? Just consider food? It is such a big blessing. And if you were ever hungry you will know why. We take it for granted. In fact, I see people wasting food every day. Because they have more than enough because they don’t want anymore, or for fun. Youtubers waste food on their silly videos and we see it on T.V too! With what right?

With what right do we waste food? What right do we have to take it for granted! It could have been you and me in place of that poor child. It could have been us sitting on the road, begging for food, and looking at others eat! Tomorrow if go bankrupt or lose our money and become poor, it could be us who may go hungry. There are people who are becoming poor every day.

And even when they work so hard. Harder than all the rich kids who go to school, get a degree and a job in an A.C office which the poor man built. What did I do to deserve this? Nothing! I got lucky, I was born in a well-off family. I live off my dad’s money and mom’s pampering. I didn’t do anything to get it. I didn’t even ask for it and yet I got it all! I am grateful for having these luxuries. I don’t want to lose them but at the same time, I can’t help but think how unfair it is. Just because a person was born poor, he has to suffer hunger. And just because a person is born well-off, he doesn’t have to even think about it.

And what about that child? Why does he have to live such a life? A hard miserable life. Why does he have to be hungry when there is so much being wasted and thrown away??

God how I hate how the universe works. How I hate humans who claim to be intelligent and advanced beings, but there are still 25,000 people and among them more than 10,000 children who die of starvation each day!!!!

How I hated myself?

You know why? Because I am responsible, we all are.

Our world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for our greed.

A few people will accumulate what is meant for others. We all have extra with ourselves. We have more than enough. That enough that we have, doesn’t belong to us. It’s the stolen right of that hungry child. It’s the food we have unintentionally, indirectly stolen from him.

The system is at fault for being unbalanced and unfair, but so are we. For ignoring it. If tomorrow you go hungry, it is not because there is no more food on Earth, it is because someone is throwing yours away. We are all collectively responsible.

We, humans, are supposed to take care of each other. So tomorrow if you need food, you won’t have to beg. Food, water, light, education, and a job is your right. And if the system is built on caring for each other rather than getting richer than the other, will we be able to achieve that.

The food that the developed countries waste is the same one grown in developing or under-developed countries. It is their food which they give us as cheap as they go hungry. And what do we do, we waste it.

Take care of others, the way you want to be taken care of. Your care will come back to you.

If you are somebody who has bread stored in their fridge or basically still have food stored after you finished eating, you have extra in your life. The extra which belongs to someone else.

Not saying that you need to give it all away. But at least some of it, especially before it gets wasted. You needn’t give in the form of food, but you can donate your extra money.

A new dress or car or phone isn’t more important than a hungry child. If you have a doubt, skip a meal, you will know.

Make a balance. Your extra money shouldn’t be someone else’s right. You are then stealing. You are why they go hungry. So stop this lavishness, this wastage, this overindulgence, this greed. It won’t get us anywhere.

Instead of building huge malls and pretty houses, spending thousands just to look better (do you know that the glitter in your make-up is mica that was mined by a child in India) At what cost are you actually wearing so much makeup? Spend on people. Spend on life. It will give you more beauty, more value than anything else.

If you took it upon yourself to sponsor just one child each year. Or maybe you and your friend sponsored a child together, year after year, you will make a generation worth of a change.

You can donate to international trusted organizations. But the best approach is your local community. If there are poor in your neighborhood, solve their problem first. Not just with charity, but with a stable long-term solution. If no one in your neighborhood is poor, then to your locality, city, state, neighboring state, country, and then abroad.

If each one of us did that, we will reach everyone in the world. There will be no more hungry children. No one will go to sleep with that pain.