starving children in Africa....

I was thinking about the recent tragedy of the Haiti earthquakes. When we were young, my parents , mostly my mother would say,"Eat your dinner(mostly when we ate split pea soup)!" and I'd whine and carry on and have to sit at the table for hours until she would either give in or I would. I would remember her saying," you need to eat that, there's starving children in AFRICA!" Today, I was remembering that saying all over again,.....as I was thinking about all the people in Haiti struggling for survival everyday! Often times, I feel so guilty for buying food and then having to throw away what didn't get eaten and went to waste.

As a young child, I used to think, well, why should I have to eat that if they're starving in AFRICA, how is it, that if I eat my soup today, it is going to help one of them? Now, it wasn't that at all, it was supposed to remind us to be thankful for what we do have, because there are starving people all over the world.....and we need to be mindful of them, pray for them, do our part, maybe we could help teach others about world issues, make them aware, maybe we could teach our own families and one another to not be wasteful when there's so much poverty elsewhwere, maybe we could donate to others, maybe we could volunteer locally at food banks or shelters, there are so many things we could do to help those less fortunate around us.......it has recently occured to me that I need to fast for the people in Haiti.......while, I'm fasting, at least one meal a day, doing without food, I can be praying for the people of Haiti and that's a start.......and the $ I save from each meal I do without, I can send as a donation. It's a start, it's what I can do personally, it's what I learned to do, be mindful of others....Thanks mom, for instilling this in me.....