Needless Hunger

I've been doing some more blog exploring, checking out sites by linking backwards from the comments or side links on other people's blogs that I regularly read. Sort of like playing the game six degrees of Kevin Bacon.

All that meandering took me to The Pondering Pig which I found to be pretty interesting. Then that took me over to Russ Kirby's site, Preaching Poetic which had some really good info on issues related to world hunger.

I do not mean to minimize the very real and legitimate issue of doing battle to fight hunger. I know that hundreds of thousands of people are starving in a world where there is so much obscene waste.

But reading all this reminded me of another kind of hunger.... The hunger of our souls. Far too many of us overindulged, fat Americans have more than enough food to put on our tables, but we have forgotten how to love, how to listen, how to be present with one another. I recently heard about some study that found a quarter of the population of this country said they had no one in their lives with whom the could have meaningful, intimate conversation.

We are too disconnected from ourselves, from our communities and from our creator.

Yes, the issue of not enough food for too many bodies matters a lot, and should be addressed with vigor.

But in my mind, the issue of not enough love for ourselves, our planet and each other is of equal importance.