WASTE NOT WANT NOT

March 15, 2008

WASTE NOT WANT NOT

THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

WASTE NOT WANT NOT
Time to heed the writing on the wall.

When I was a child in school, I learnt this poem which made a great impression on my mind. Here it is;

I must not throw upon the floor
The crust I cannot it,
For many a hungry little one
Would think it quite a treat

‘Tis willful waste brings woeful want
That I may live to say:
O how I wish I had the bread
Which once I threw away.

Americans waste so much food, about 15%, it is said, enough to feed the whole of Canada or which can also help to feed her own millions of starving POOR, many of whom work at starvation wages or are unemployed. As a boy I never threw away food. I would, like Jack Sprat of Nursery Rhymes, lick the platter clean. But what do I see in this country. Go to a dinner party and you will see the wanton waste of food. Social etiquette requires that a small portion (the manners piece) be left on the plate, but many just eat the tasty tid bits and leave the pile. They also do this in restaurants. But not only food is wasted; good clothes, furniture, paper, toys, things that go out of fashion which will be treated as treasures in developing countries, are discarded.

With the price of gasoline  sky high, the destruction of insects which pollinate most of our crops by pollution of air and land with harmful chemicals, corn being used as an alternative for manufacturing fuel, the cost of foods will rise also putting more strain on most of the population.

Let these signs be a wakeup call to all Americans to begin to change their way of living. As the environment diminishes so will the earth also lose its capacity to feed its burgeoning population. Also, there may be foods which you will be afraid to eat because of pollution, especially sea foods and genetically engineered ones.

And you my brothers who have amassed huge piles of wealth that are sitting there like heaps of compost – my apology to those who do not fall in that category -will, if scattered, fertilize the fields and will bless many. To lavish money on luxuries which could be put to better use must also be considered waste. Many of your fellow men live, five or six persons in one room shacks,while here, two persons and a dog live in a mansion that can accommodate a hundred. Wake up everyone and stop wasting.

— Randall Butisingh

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