Food Crisis

As many of you will probably already know at this point, there is a global food crisis currently taking place. While you may not have yet felt its effects, make no mistake, it is a major problem with global consequences. All over the world riots are taking place as people are starving to death. Basic necessities such as, rice, flour, corn, maze, have doubled or tripled in price over the last year. For people living on less than $2, or in many cases less than $1, a day it means more than just a few extra cents a week. It means pulling your child out of school so the rest of the family can eat for another week, it means another child may have to work, it means that what little possessions a family has will be sold to get the extra money. It means that eventually they will be unable to afford the basics to life.

We, here in the developed world, take for granted the fact that we can purchase a bag of flour or rice without much consequence. It is readily available on the shelves, in comparison to a box of Captain Crunch it costs very little, and even as the price rises we hardly notice when the grocery bill exceeds $100 a week for the family. However, the rest of the world does notice. If you can manage it, I encourage you to visit the World Food Programs website and make a donation to the Fill the Cup campaign. $15 will feed 10 children for a week. If you want to learn more about the food crises I have added a number of links that a classmate of mine gathered. There is also a series of pictures below that illustrate some of the glaring differences between the haves and have-nots.

Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07



United States: The Revis family of North Carolina
Food expenditure for one week $341.98



Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11



Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca
Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09



Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna
Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27



Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53



Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55



Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03



Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23




Some more reading if you want to learn more:
1. How to stop the global food crisis - BBC
2. The New Economics of Hunger - Washington Post
3.Rising Food Prices to top UN Agenda - Reuters
4. Rising Food Prices - Chatham House Report
5. UN Scientific report on fixing the world food system
6. Credit Crunch? The real crisis is global hunger - The Guardian

Spilled Paint

I received this picture from a friend. The world is such a beautiful place, so colorful and extraordinary. This picture comes with the caption "The day God spilled the paint"

End of the Semester

So I have been noticeably absent lately and I do apologize. My time has been consumed by end of semester assignments and tests and I haven't had much time to sleep let alone write anything insightful. I am glad to say that it is now over and I can again breath. I missed two big days this past week and I hope you had a chance to read about them elsewhere, or more importantly to celebrate them. Earth day was April 22 (Tuesday) and African Malaria Day was April 25 (Friday).

I would also like to announce that Million Dollar Youth, the organization I was formerly working for, is hosting a concert on May 31 here in Toronto at the Opera House. Doors will open at 7pm and there are some really popular acts on the bill. I attached a poster below with more details and hopefully you can make it out.

Life On Hold

As a young adult still doing post-secondary education I am often reminded that "real life" starts after graduation. While I have always liked to think that this is a faulty premise I recently figured out, through some introspection, that I have indeed been treating my life like it is on hold. Waiting for the real part to start, treating life like I have time to practice. I don't know why I did, but am sure it has to do with protecting myself. I stopped dating, put projects on hold, postponed doing things that I wanted to, all because I think I might be scared to actually do them. Doesn't seem like me but it makes sense.

I told myself a couple of years ago that I wanted to see the world. Live in some odd locations, see the tourist spots and go down the unbeaten path. For this reason I also told myself I didn't want to get involved with someone. I didn't want someone to hold me back, and I knew that if I was dating someone at the time I left then my heart would be torn between achieving my dreams and living with one. I didn't want to hurt someone else and I didn't want to hurt myself. I wanted to avoid the risk so I preemtively stopped myself from even considering it. I put my heart on hold.

I wanted to start a couple of online projects, all of which I have stalled on. I pick away at them as I can but have not put any considerable energy into making them happen. I have done this because I know if I do that they will either be a nice success, requiring further energy and time, or be an utter failure and a huge disappointment to me. I don't put in the time because either way the result will be hard to take in. I do it for self defense because the dream of them is so grand to me and I am acutely aware that the reality might not be quite so grand.

I share these examples because my attention of them was brought into view recently. I realized that the world I was creating around me was in fact not the world I wanted and yet it was of my own doing. I set myself up in a box that I could make sense of, a world I felt in control of; but the box was holding me back. With these constraints in my life I was failing at the game. I told myself it was practice, and that it could wait, but I felt fragmented. Sometimes it takes an event or a person to come in your life to help you realize that right now is the only time we have to live. Tomorrow is just a figment of the imagination. It doesn't exist until it happens and if you live thinking - believing - that it will lead or bring the life you want, then you are setting yourself up for failure. You are depriving the world of an integral part; YOU.

Life can't be broken into tiny, divisible parts. It isn't neat and tidy, and by trying to make it so you separate yourself from the possibility of life. By putting up these barriers, by setting up controls, you cut yourself off from chance. Tomorrow may never come, but right here and now is for sure. It is the only sure thing in life. It is the only thing that wont let you down. Here and now will always be here until it isn't anymore and then it wont matter. There is no practice round, you get one shot at it. One opportunity to the make the most of. Set yourself free.

We Campaign

The Alliance for Climate Protection is set to launch a new campaign called the We Campaign. Al Gore is part of the organization and they have some major people taking part in the campaign, in/on all forms of mass media. I have attached one of the ads below but there will be several others joining it on television, radio, print, and on the web. I think it is another great example of how traditional marketing methods can be harnessed for the use of something more. Check it out and let me know what you think.

The Last Lecture

This video was posted on YouTube about a year ago and if you haven't yet seen it you should take some time and check it out. Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given about 6 months to live. As a result he decided to present his last lecture as if it really would be his last. It is an inspiring talk and worth the time it takes to watch.



Let me ask you this: What would you say to a group of people if you had one last chance to do so? if you knew today was your last day on earth? We are all guilty of taking time for granted but take the time to think about it what you would say, even take the time to write it down in a letter to the person you would say it to. Time is precious so take advantage of it.

Disappointment

We have all at times become disappointed in life. With someone, over something, we can't escape a let down here and there. It is a part of life, unfortunately, that not everything goes our way. However, take a second to think about that. The mere notion that we could become so wrapped up in our own lives that we forget that our disappointment could infact be another persons proudest moment, is cause for concern. The world does not revolve around us, which is a good thing. The world is not ours, which is a good thing.

You should take disappointment and flip it around. Take a new perspective on life, take a step back and examine the possibilities that can come from disappointment. The old saying of when "one door closes another opens" is a comment on how we should look at the world. Take applying for a new job, what looks to be a perfect job and one that you would die for might not be right for you. If you don't get the job then the person who did get it may have been perfect for it, maybe it was their big break, maybe they needed it more. We live in a world where we think about "me" first, but not only could we be much happier, but we could allow those around us to be happier as well.

Disappointment rubs off on others. Our bad mood is projected out on the world and we propagate the I/Me way of thinking. People see that we are wrapped up in our own problems and our own negativity that they react by doing the same. Others will look at us and see how self-centered our thoughts are and they will do likewise. Try the opposite sometime. The next disappointment you have turn it around. Propagate the feeling of a "We" world, one where your disappointment is another persons moment. See what kind of a reaction those around you give. See how that in turn makes you feel. The positive will come back, the people around us will think about "us". The world will be a better place.

Disappointment can seem like an insurmountable mountain. It will plant itself in the middle of our lives and take them over. The solution is to think about things as if we are already at the top. Life can be a magical success or an utter failure - it is a choice you can make.