Posted with permission.
Thank you Seldom for sharing this with my readers. You express what many, many others are feeling now, “what can one person do”? Your words are powerful.
In Judaism it is tradition to send the money that would have been spent on food to the needy in your community (for example, the local Food Bank) while on a fast such as on Yom Kippur.
You can be a “Ghandi”, we all can. Sometimes it takes just one person to get something big going, and you are doing that. God will bless you for your action.~ Lo
by Seldom
wordsseldomsaid’s blog post
April 28, 2008
it is 5:05am…while it’s not unusual for me to fail to sleep, sometimes for days, the reason i cannot sleep tonight is different than it is at other times…
i tried to sleep, but this weird cry, this strange sound of children crying, dying of hunger drove me from my bed…it was like a nightmare, a nightmare that was happening while i was still awake..it was surreal…it was real…haunting…
with the world on the verge of what could be one of the worst human disasters in modern history, i find sleeping a struggle tonight…
i have often stated, and it is true, that within my circle of friends and associates, i am the poorest man i know…
but i could not get over the fact, that in the fact, that i had supper tonight, i was in that regard much better off than millions upon millions around the world…and in that regard, i fell an overwhelming thankfulness, but at the same moment, and overbearing shame…these conflicting emotions are raging in my soul..battling…
if i could, if it were in my power, i would feed every man, woman and child in the world, and none would ever know what it is like to go hungry…but i am just a man of meager means…with a voice so small, none need regard it for anything or any real purpose, and seldom do they…but that is ok…no reason why they should…
i know a few read my blog…and i know most of the time it is for laughs…and jokes…
i don’t mind being the butt of the jokes…being shown for what is truly easy for any to see…that i am as ignorant on most matters as one human could be and still be allowed to remember to breathe…
but there is a time, when one knows…though they cannot do anything, they have to do something…they have to do something…
i guess for me this is one of those times…where i wish i could do more, could do anything, that would make a difference…that would matter…even if no one knew i did it…
i am not a ghandi…or martin luther king…or JESUS CHRIST….
GOD knows i am no bill gates, or rockerfeller…or anyone of any type of importance on any level…
but i have this urge this morning…this beckoning deep in my soul…to do something…no matter how small or meaningless…
while i know a fast is to be private, and announcing it is not proper, but in fact shameful under most circumstances and doing so reneg’s any spiritual good it does the individual who is fasting…i have decided to do the only thing i can do…
and fast one day a week, and eat only one meal a day the other days, for the month of may…in protest of what is happening, in compassion for the victims and those who will be victims,… in a desire to do something, even if it does not matter…
i am not doing it for spiritual gain…so i have no problem with sharing it…
but i am planning on fasting to be in spirit with those who face real hunger, and have no way of breaking their forced fast…to be in spirit with those who will, in the coming times, face dire need of something is not done quickly…
i know my missing four days of food and some extra meals is nothing …and will have no affect on the crisis…but maybe a day without food for me, will mean a days worth of food for another…
i don’t know…maybe it is stupid…perhaps so…
but when you can do nothing, but feel you must do something…what else can you do but what you can do?…
and being able to know-without doubt-in any given moment you are doing the right thing, is a rare thing indeed…and precious…
and though it may sound stupid to many, and be stupid to many, it feels like the right thing to do…like something i must do…the only thing one such as myself can do…
i do not know if anyone else is planning anything like this, and it does not matter if they are or are not…this is not about doing something because someone else is…it is not about being recognized for what i am doing…
it is about doing the only thing i can do…it is about wishing i were able to do something that really mattered….it is about something besides….
me…
see
Global Famine: The Lords of Capital Decree Mass Death by Starvation
Food Fights: Predation vs Protection by The Other Katherine Harris
FOOD CRISIS: The greatest demonstration of the historical failure of the capitalist model
Fueling Food Shortages by Ralph Nader + Harry Chapin: Cats In The Cradle
Dandelion Salad 
Seldom, you remind me of one of my heroes, Simone Weil.
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Whatever floats your boat, Seldom. I personally hate the idea of anyone suffering — with the exception of the murderous swine responsible for this outrage against humanity (and their associated outrages against us all).
hi katherine…believe it or not i completely disagree…
there is only one way to make the necessary changes…
words cannot accomplish anything…in order to truly make something happen…it will take a willingness to sacrifice…i understand sacrifice is painful and many wish to be excused from…and whether or not to sarifice our goods and ourselves is a personal decision each must make…
but to find a temporary fix to a problem is fine…but finding a fix to the immediate problem is only a small part fo the solution…
it is in fact the weakening and sacrificing of ourselves that is the only thing that will make a difference…
to feed oneself undisturbed, while others perish in hunger, yet claim we are looking for a way to make change is self-deception willingly embraced…it is to join those who are causing the affliction and having a hand in it….
but if we set our minds….that our fellowhuman’s right to life, is just as important to us, and valuable to us, as our right to life, only then can true change come…
when we set our minds…on growing weak with those who grow weak…and perishing with those who perish…
then we are on the verge of something great…
nothing short of this true commitment will stand for long…
anything short of such resolve will be nothing more than a band aid on a large wound, that will never truly heal, unless such convictions and courage is displayed by all…
it will take more than one person, or one nation….but it can happen…and…
peace requires a peaceful solution….the whole establishment can be changed, be forced to change, simply by the people who do think all are of equal importance, and that every life matters, joinning in with those who are hungry and perishing…
and as they have less we share more…and for the ones, and there will be many, who have that do not wish to share but who wish to take and make excuses while some have nothing and are dying because of it…know that is fine…
then those who care will then give more, and make up the lack of their not giving and sacrificing..
it is more than placing a meal in front of another person…it is about bringing a change that cannot be stopped…growing equality that cannot be destroyed…
as the powers, and those takers who find excuses not to help, or who look for convenient ways to help as long it is does not cost them any real thing, see that , many who keep their machine well oiled are willing to pay the cost…then and only then can true change take place…
if the weakest must perish for lack of food…if we give them our food…and as more grow in danger, we give more …and as the weak grow weaker, we grow weak with them…as they perish, we perish with them, and those powers that horde see their power fading away before their eyes, and the pillars that keep the grand roof over their heads whithering and cracking away, threatening to peacfully and quietly bring down the ceilling on their heads by doing nothing more than suffering in compassion with those who suffer…they will be forced, without our raising a hand in voilence, to make the changes that are needed,…
if they see, that our resolve is so set, that we will give and continue to give…that we know keeping ourselves full while others are empty all the while saying i am looking for a solution, is truly the wrong way …
if they notice that we who keep up government are willing to pay the price those weak ones pay…are willing to partake of their suffering no matter the cost…
that as the poorest die, and perish, we are willing to perish with them…they will realize…perhaps before it is too late, they must do something…
for if the weakest perish, and they see we are willing to perish likewise, they will also realize that soon following, they and their power will perish with us…as we who make up their power fade away…
and in that manner alone, is there power to make the change…
it is in the strength to grow weak…that we will find we are strongest…
and in the threat and dispay of a willingness to do so…
that there is power to change the world..
all else is just wind…that has blown time and again before, with no real results…while we have stayed comfortable, and lied ot ourselves saying…”we are looking for an answer”…when the answer is in selfless sacrifice…
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or in Haiti’s case, mud, oil, and sugar, bon-appetite’.
I understand your impulse, Seldom. Through recent years, I’ve often thought of setting myself alight, amid signage condemning Shrub and His Thugs.
But you know what? We who do have hearts can surely find better ways to use them than by destroying or weakening ourselves. What they WANT is for good people to sink into powerlessness.
This bit of rabbinic lore strikes me as relevant:
“A Hassidic story describes a wealthy man who prides himself on his self-denial. He comes to his rabbi’s home and brags that he eats only bread with salt and drinks only water. The rabbi, horrified, orders the wealthy man to eat rich and nutritious meals and to drink wine. After the rich man leaves, the rabbi’s disciples are puzzled. The rabbi explains, ‘Not until he eats meat will he realize that the poor need bread. As long as he himself eats only bread, he will think the poor can live on stones.’ “
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