On any given Friday night, the finest restaurants are sure to be completely booked with reservations for patrons who cannot wait to sit down, order a savory and indulgent meal and proceed to gorge themselves until their buttons are being pulled off of their now too-tight shirts.
Once they are uncomfortably stuffed, these patrons receive the bill and quickly pay before they come out of their food-coma and realize that they have both eaten and paid for far too much food.
Going out to dinner is no longer considered a luxury, but a way of life. Americans rarely bat an eye when the check comes and a dinner for two costs the same as a family of four’s weekly grocery bill.
We live in an age of over-indulgence.We have become desensitized not only on the overload of food that we consume, but also the ridiculous amount of money that we spend on food alone.
Americans have become so used to this life filled with excess, where not only are there no needs to be met, but not lust that can be fulfilled. This has become the new American Dream.
This concept becomes especially problematic when we look around and realize the great poverty and hunger that surrounds us.
According to the National Resources Defense Council, approximately 40 percent of food purchased by Americans goes to waste each year. This accounts for roughly $165 billion literally being thrown out with the garbage.
If we could cut down this waste by just 15 percent, we could provide food for 25 million struggling Americans in a single year.
Food was never meant to be seen as a luxury. Rather, it is meant to be sustaining and to be a means by which our bodies can renew their strength.
As citizens of the world, we have a global responsibility to spread our wealth with those living in poverty, those who have little or nothing to their name.
As Christians, we have a further responsibility to leave our fleshly, selfish, gluttonous ways and instead take care of God’s people by providing for those who do not have enough to get by.
This is not a call to stop going out to eat altogether or to forever forgo the occasional Starbucks run. We can still indulge our senses with foods that both delight and satisfy, but we must do so in moderation. We should be more aware of the amount of food we are purchasing, as well as the amount that we are consuming.
We should become more accustomed to taking only what we need and giving more to those who need.
We are one global community, and it is with that thought in mind that we should take the food necessary to sustain us and then pass the plate.
