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As we approach tomorrow’s Thanksgiving holiday, a day of feasting as much as a day of giving thanks, consider some sobering statistics.
More than 840 million people in this world are suffering from hunger. For most of them, the problem is chronic and persistent. It is estimated that some 24,000 people die every day from hunger or hunger-related causes. Extreme poverty, not famine or war, is the primary reason suffering families cannot get enough to eat. Mostly this suffering is experienced in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
We call this to your attention not to generate feelings of guilt, but to enhance appreciation for the miracle of the American system where abundance is the rule rather than the exception. Even in the midst of war and with a struggling economy, life for most Americans proceeds routinely with uncanny calm. Food and shelter, generally, are plentiful. There is water to drink, clothing to wear and work to do. If anything the focus of American consumption is on luxuries, even extravagances, rather than life’s basic necessities.
So, enjoy tomorrow’s feast. Find satisfaction with family and friends in sitting around tables laden with food. In doing so, though, KSL urges you to pause briefly and consider what’s before you and how easily acquired most of it is.
And let feelings of gratitude fill your soul as you genuinely offer thanks for all that you have.
