I'd Like to Teach the World....

Over the last week I've seen several stories regarding children and school lunches. I was so blown away by some of the stories I decided to do a little research.

In April 2013 four food workers in Massachusetts were fired for making crying school children toss their food in the trash after it was discovered they did not have enough money in their prepaid lunch accounts.

September 2013- New Jersey – Fox and Friends panel support the idea of having children go hungry to teach them a lesson. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Per the video, the child psychologist says, don’t toss out their food… give them a cheese sandwich and an IOU.

January 2014 – A Utah School instructed cafeteria workers to “confiscate” the lunches of 40 schoolchildren who did not have enough money to pay for their lunches. That food was thrown in the trash while the child going hungry, watched.

What in the actual hell is wrong with people today? Is society as a whole channeling Maria Antoinette? As we saying, let them eat cheese sandwiches?

Ok so I do know that she never said that, but really what is wrong with us?

Growing up in rural North Carolina, with a father in the penal system, my family was a recipient of public assistance. We received food stamps, free lunch, participated in the commodities program and any other free food program we could get into. My mother, who was pretty much worthless, made sure that all the money that did come in went directly into the pocket of her drunkard husband who systematically physically, mentally and sexually abused us.

I remember stealing food from grocery stores and sitting in the corn field eating frozen dinners. I remember standing out by the trash can eating the “scraps” of food when I was supposed to be cleaning up dinner dishes. I remember sneaking into the houses of people who lived near me and taking food from their freezer.

I had breakfast and lunch at school and dinner at home. Sometimes my mother would fry a chicken for dinner. I would get a drumstick, some instant potatoes and maybe some green beans. A sister would get the other drumstick, a second two wings. The thighs would go to the asshole and my mother would get both chicken breasts.

You know, because it’s always a good idea to take the two biggest pieces and eat them yourself and not share them with your children. One of the worse spankings I ever got was for sneaking the skin off her chicken breast. No wonder I have issues with food. But I digress...

My point is, we don't know the family situation of these children. We do not know if this may be the only meal they are getting today. We just do not know.

We’re living a world where we have people who have more money than their grandchildren’s grandchildren will ever spend. Why is it so difficult for the lot of us to understand that we can change this? There is no reason why children should go hungry. There is no reason why kids should not have food in their bellies.

A Houston man decided to check into his local school and found that there were 60 children who were back on their lunch bills. He took $465.00 of his own money and paid off the accounts. He wasn't a rich man. Just someone who saw that kids were going hungry and decided to do something about it.

What can we do about this as a society? I've been looking at information around a resource based economy. Jacque Fresco, a futurist and scientist offers a great idea to come to terms with some of these issues.

If we could just come together, we could change the world. I'm not a scientist. I'm not a financial expert and I try to know as little about politics as I can. This idea of taking what we all have and putting it together, finding a new way to look at our world. Taking care of our planet and loving each other. It sounds, well... kinda cool to me.