Hungry to make a difference

Beep! Beep! Beep!
My alarm chirps that regrettable sound of an early morning class. I sit in bed and ponder why in the hell I decided to schedule my classes before the crack of dawn.
After the profound thought about how much my life sucks this morning, I stumble into the kitchen for a quick bite to eat. I indulge into a healthy box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch until my hunger is satisfied. Wait. Stop. Hold it. What just happened?
The bowl of cereal for breakfast might seem like a common practice for many of us. Unfortunately, there are more than one billion people around the world who start and end their day with an empty stomach.
A large and increasing portion of these undernourished individuals are children. In fact, children around the world are twice as likely as adults to live in a household that lacks the proper nourishment.
Many studies have shown that this lack of nourishment beginning at a young age can lead to the likelihood of emotional, physical and mental impairments in the future.
These adults and children will have no chance to flourish if we do not provide the necessary opportunities and nourishment. This is not just a problem in the Third World countries.
It was found that as of 2006, 35.5 million people in the United States did not have the adequate resources to feed themselves or their families. One-third of them were malnourished children.
But the debate and corresponding headlines are about health care.
Now, don’t get me wrong; health care reform is an important issue that’s crucial for our nation. But food and water are essential to our health. Without them we are nothing.
Fortunately, a few American politicians have taken leadership in fighting the hunger issue by attempting to reform aid.
During the summer, John Kerry, D-Mass. and Richard Lugar, R-Ind. introduced S.1524 – the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act.
According to govtrack.us, this bill aims “to strengthen the capacity, transparency, and accountability of United States foreign assistance programs to effectively adapt and respond to new challenges of the 21st century.”
FARAA is a positive step toward solving the hunger predicament and is a glimmer of hope for hungry people at home and abroad.
However, hunger should not simply be a conservative or liberal issue. Hunger, rather, is a human concern that continually needs to be constructively deliberated by all of humanity.
As college students, we are not exempt. We, at our burgeoning and passion-filled ages, have vast potential to make a difference in the hunger issue.
Edmund Burke once said, “Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who does nothing because he could only do a little.”
I encourage you to join a hunger-conscious student organization on campus, such as the Bread Chapter at IU or Campus Kitchens Project, or donate your time and talent at a local mission like Backstreet Missions or Hoosier Hills Food Bank.
In the end, I guarantee it will make you appreciate that bowl of cereal a little more.