Yesterday, I came home for lunch, and the aroma of chicken cooking in onions and garlic filled the air. "That smells wonderful Mahnmahn, andI am starving!" When she turned to me, her startled expression struck at my core. "I am so very sorry Mahnmahn, that is a horrible expression. I have never known hunger, and I pray to God not to say that ever again." She stepped closer, and said, "It's OK Michael, it's OK. I knew that it was not OK.
In that moment I was not present, thinking only of my own satisfaction. Mahnmahn has known the pain of not having food in her house, and hiding in the jungle with her family for months, afraid and hungry. Hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children in Liberia go to bed without a meal, and children suffer from malnutrition. Over two million people (80% of the population) exist on less that $1US per day, when a bag of rice that will feed a family for 1 month costs more than $30US.
Lord,
Allow me to forgive myself, and from this moment, grow in my mindfulness, deepening my compassion for the hundreds of millions of people in the world, who know starvation, and who live with the suffering of not being able to feed their children today.
Amen.
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