Things I Care About

[starlooker]

Hi all,

I've been up thinking tonight. I'll get to what I've been thinking about in a moment. I wasn't sure where to post it, whether in the Brontosaurus thread or in Dear Bob, or even in First-World Problems. And then, I decided it might be a good idea to have a thread where people can post about problems or issues they care about, their reasons for caring, and just basically try to raise thoughtfulness or awareness on the part of other pwebbers. Not to preach, but just to think out loud and explain why this matters to you, particularly. We're a group of fairly passionate people, after all.

~~~

Anyhow, so here's what I've been thinking about: Hunger.

Surprise, surprise. The ravenous pregnant woman has been thinking about hunger. And it's true. It's not something I've thought about terribly seriously before I began to experience it like this. You see, I've never in my memory woken up hungry in the middle of the night before this.

So, yes, I knew eating was important, and, yes, I felt sad every time I'd see commercials about starving children with flies on them. I'd be appalled when I read world hunger statistics and stuff. But there's something about hunger I never really understood, and I don't think I'm alone in this.

Hunger hurts.

It is acutely physically painful. It is gnawing emptiness that forces you to attend to it, to the neglect of everything else.

Did you know that? Maybe you did. Maybe this is only a revelation to me, a secret that everyone else knows and that's why no one mentions it. But, at any rate, I did not know it. I have been hungry before, after all. We all have, right? It's just, before, they only ever reached the point of hunger pangs, not hunger pains. Hunger was a slightly uncomfortable signal I'd get that I'd pretty much listen to right away. And, maybe I was busy, so I couldn't listen to the signal immediately, and it would become progressively more uncomfortable. Maybe my blood sugar would drop and I'd start to get a headache. So, I'd eat at the next available opportunity, and the discomfort would disappear, Poof! Just like that. It never really hurt before. It was just uncomfortable. Or, if it did ever hurt, it was not frequently enough for it to be anything but an anomaly. Not something that caught my attention.

"Ohmygosh, I'm starving," I'd say, sitting down to eat somewhere, laughing a little bit at my own hunger.

These days, because of how my body is responding to pregnancy, hunger is very different. I am having hunger pains on a daily basis. Not because I don't eat, but because my body is apparently panicking when there is not something on my stomach and trying desperately to alert me that something is wrong with that situation. That is, after all, what pain basically is. A way our brain gets our attention and forces us to try to fix something that is wrong.

And, so, I fix a meal or a light snack or whatever. I go to my cupboard or refrigerator or nearby shop.

But there's a part of my consciousness that has been growing lately, a part of me that wonders how women around the world manage during pregnancy when food is not available so simply, so easily. Or how I would manage if I were so hungry, had a limited amount of food, and also had other children to feed. If I would manage. How I would feel.

I know human resiliency is amazing, and the body is adaptable in many ways. But -- it's wrong that people have to adapt to starvation-level poverty. I thank God for what I have, and, man, I feel fortunate. I feel a growing sense of fortune even when I complain about things. I'm not feeling guilty for what I have, really. It's that, these days I'm feeling that it's not enough that I am so fortunate because, truly, everyone should be so lucky. No one should have to be in pain because of hunger and not be able to remedy it, and quickly.

I want to remember this later. Once we have a steady income again, I am bound and determined to find a reputable organization that helps the nutritional needs of pregnant women and children and donate regularly. I cared only in the abstract about this before, and I think that's because I never had to know one simple fact. Hunger hurts.

[Jayelle]

I don't want this thread to get buried without any response!

I agree and I feel strongly about hunger as well. I encourage you to not wait until you're in a better financial position - donate whatever you can afford, even if that seems like a tiny amount. It's easier to up a donation then to start. [/unasked-for advice]

I don't think I've made a secret on this board of the fact that we used a food bank just under a year ago. It was really hard to swallow our pride, but it was also a huge help. It was such a relief to get that food and feel some of the weight lift off our shoulders. We are now making sure to give back.

[Claire]

I really like this thread too. Thanks for making it!

Something I care about: early childhood education

I'll try to remember to edit this post and expand more later. This website does a pretty good job for me, though: http://www.preknow.org/advocate/factsheets/benefits.cfm. Pre-school is not just nap time and play time, its a very important step in getting ready for kindergarten. I truly believe that solving problems with early childhood education would make it easier to address k-12 problems and beyond.

[starlooker]

Jan and Claire -- thanks so much for replying! I was really nervous about it getting buried.

Jan -- it looks like my husband and I may very well both be unemployed in a month, or I would take your advice. If one of us ends up getting a job, anywhere, believe me, I'll do what I can. But right now, what we can realistically do is save enough money to try to keep ourselves fed.

[Gravity Defier]

I love this thread. A lot. The problem for me is, when I care about something very much, I lose the ability to rationally discuss them. This is, to say the least, a major character flaw and one I'm really apologetic about. What's worse, it all tends to come from the heart, not the head, so experience and feelings, not logic and facts, shape my view. So...I'm just going to list and not discuss (if I can help it). Hope that's okay.

Things That I Care About:

Education Reform
Gay Rights
Body Image Issues
Drug Use/Addiction
Youth Gang Involvement

[Mich]

Maybe I overthink things too much (I have a problem with empathizing, as someone once told me), but I can never form a solid enough opinion about anything in particular, except for "this would be a bad outcome" or "stopping hunger is a good end goal". The means of getting there, though, I can never reach a conclusion on. There are too many variables.

I've discovered I can only put my foot down when it comes to a single subject.

Sandwiches.

For example: salt and pepper do not belong on a sandwich, as they are generally flavor enhancers, and the entire purpose of a sandwich is to choose ingredients that have enough flavor. Sandwiches also require some kind of lubricant, which mayonnaise is perfect for due to its almost lack of flavor, although mustard does well also (though you need to choose a mustard that has flavor in its own right and doesn't just make the sandwich taste "yellow"). And why, oh, why would you dip your sandwich in broth? Why?

This is rather embarrassing to admit, and I do not mean to derail the thread or claim it is stupid. Just merely an excuse for why I can't contribute to such a good idea for a thread.

[ender1]

And why, oh, why would you dip your sandwich in broth? Why?

You have just offended Fred.

[neo-dragon]

I agree that this is an excellent thread, and it's gotten me to think about what I do care about. Sort of like Mich said above, I think that most of the time I'm either fairly indifferent or just have a general "this is right" or "this is wrong" mentality.

But I know that I do care about education.

If I had a single political bone in my body I just might find myself climbing up the ladder to become director of my school board or maybe even minister of education . I'm actually pretty proud of the public education system in these parts, but it can still be improved. Still, since I'm not politically inclined I'll just continue to do the best I can inside the classroom.

Also racism really irks me. All forms of discrimination do, but racism bugs me the most. Somehow it seems the most arbitrary.

[LilBee91]

Things I care about (that I may or may not elaborate on later):
Childhood obesity
Religious tolerance
Child abuse (though probably most everyone thinks that's bad...)
Prostitution