Living with less

I was watching a program on the new technologies that are more eco-friendly. As an advocate was talking about the new technologies, he talked about an elderly person reducing to save energy costs. The advocate said "why should this person have to consume less. We have the technology to use less energy and still give the elderly person the same amount of comfort.

That is a big problem in our country. This is a big problem with me. I am addicted to consuming! One connection I have made is that my consumption has contributed to my excessive weight. I know that seems too much of a no-brainer to be an insight.  I am working on eating less and learning to be a little slower at satisfying my cravings.

One act that I did that haunts me was when I was in Haiti. I saw poverty all around me, however as I ate my three square meals, I ate a lot. I made sure I felt full. There was poverty and there was my stomach, and my stomach was the clear winner.

Children in our country were told to clean their plates with the injunction "Don't you know there are starving children in Africa?" I guess the message was, you had better be grateful, others are living with far less, and that could be you! The message was being grateful for what we had. The message was not about slaking the suffering of others. 

However, gratitude is meaningless without action. Maybe the message around our dinner tables should be Let's consume less and send more to others. 

The standard joke for me has been "clean your plate. Don't you know there are starving children in Africa?" Maybe that should change for me to "don't cook so much, there are starving children in Africa! Make sure you find ways to share with them."