It's day three of the challenge, and I can see the light. I think we've been really fortunate with this project, or at least I have been, especially since I'm a college student. There are random yet constant opportunities that arise for free food that has really saved me from the monotony of my fridge. This morning as I was walking back from class I passed the shanty town when I saw Isaac with a bag of food. Growling from hunger, Isaac gave me a cinnamon raison bagel!!!!!! It was delicious. =-). Then later today at 6pm there was a matzos balls & soup event for passover in my dorm; the sign said "just bring a bowl," and so I did. During the matzos & soup feast someone told me that there was FREE ice cream in the wash room.....and so I went down to the nest and had a bowl of ice cream as well. I met Katie there, another girl living on $2 a day, and we both commented on how rich the ice cream seemed, almost to the point of nausea actually. And not to mention I felt lame eating ice cream while I was supposed to be similating the life of a poor person. I don't know why. I just feel like as a college student I'm exposed to an enormous amount of generosity in comparison with the reality of life on the streets, and whenever I take advantage of these freebies I'm somehow cutting corners.
The overarching point of this project isn't to teach us how to cut corners, or even really to teach us what it's like to be poor. For me, this project is all about reintroducing ourselves to the basics of our humanity. It's about the nuanced simplicities central to existence that have been crowded out by our lavish lifestyles. What I'm fumbling to say is that in the present day, average americans spend so much of their time searching for food to fill their stomach or webpages to fill their time. When on the contrary I've learned that the relationships we make with others every day have filled me moer than any bowl of rice and beans.
No comments:
Post a Comment