Starving Children

I was raised in New York City at a time when family members tended not to move far from the old neighborhood. Consequently I was guided by the presence of a number of women in my life - my Mother, Grandmothers, aunts , nuns, teachers, and so forth. In fact, one of my aunts was also a nun, so you can just imagine the control she had.

It was also a time of great difficulty for the people in Europe, especially the children. It was during and just at the close of World War II and people there had little to eat and often lived in homes under the most primitive of conditions. How do I know this? After all, I was only a boy. "Eat your breakfast/lunch/dinner (circle one) Joseph, the children in Europe are starving." It didn't matter where I was at the time, the woman in charge said that. I must admit that at the time I didn't see the connection between what I had on my plate and the plight of some kid in Europe. I still don't, but the pressure from all those women was great and I complied. Well, I still don't know why, but it worked. The children in Europe are no longer starving and haven't been for a long time.

As I grew into adulthood I was terrified, of course, that if I didn't eat everything, the starvation would start up again. Eventually I ballooned to about 216 pounds saving the children in Europe from starvation. Years later it occurred to me that perhaps I didn't need to finish everything on my plate. Maybe I could at least leave some of my dessert behind. I tried it, all the while closely watching the news wires and papers, looking for any sign that I had triggered the starvation thing again. Nothing happened, and now I'm down to a more respectable 175 pounds.

Then came the news about the children in Asia. That's right, they were starving. Sorry, I had Europe. I couldn't take on Asia. So my children got the children in Asia. Their Mother, Grandmothers, aunts and nuns told them to eat all their food because the children in Asia are starving and apparently that worked, too. Children in Asia are no longer starving, at least not that we hear about.

Now, though, it's the colossal tragedy afflicting the children in Africa, but that situation is being handled by the United Nations, so my grandchildren are not involved in it and have not been asked to clean their plates, at least not for the purpose of saving African children. The U.N. has experience in these matters of course, as in Iraq where they allowed Saddam Hussein to sell oil so the Iraqi government would have money to buy food for the Iraqi people. Of course, Saddam didn't seem to understand that the money was supposed to be spent for food and medical supplies. Nor did many U.N. officials. They apparently thought the money was intended for their personal use and judging by the recent comments from Kofi Annan, they and most U.N. members don't see it as a serious U. N. shortcoming.

Let us also not forget the way the U.N. ended the violence in Haiti, Palestine, Angola, Liberia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Uganda, Rwanda.

Regarding the situation in Sudan, the U.N. is debating whether to apply sanctions against the government until Khartoum ends the violence and suffering there. There are Countries at the U.N. who insist that the U.N. and the U.S., especially the U. S., should stay out of what is the business of the Sudanese government. "Let them handle it," they say while sitting on their fat asses in the comfort of U.N. Headquarters in New York and eating their fill in the best restaurants, all while thousands of Sudanese children and adults suffer with, and die of, hunger.

There are no food shortages in the world. There are only evil men who would allow this to happen simply to gain wealth and power while securing a comfortable lifestyle for themselves. The Bible is clear and correct - God will provide, and He has. We live in a world of plenty. The problem is distributing it to those who need it and God left that job to us, but we have failed to do so.

Perhaps the U.N. should return to the old, proven method of telling children to clean their plates because the children in Africa are starving. The outcome could only be an improvement to what the U.N. is doing now.