No kid hungry

I recently came across an E mail (not sent on purpose, and forwarded by someone that I don't even know) that started with the question, "Can someone please tell me what the hell is wrong with the people who run our country???" Now I know this question is probably meant for those who are in the government and political system of America, but, even those people are part of our population who have the opportunity to give and donate and assist those who are in more need than those of us who have more to give.

It proceeded to rant about the fact that America gives millions and millions of dollars to other countries in need, and yet whoever originally started this "chain" e mail obviously felt like people in America aren't doing enough to help their own, and we need to stop giving to other countries and help "US" first......

I felt a couple of things after reading this E mail. Mostly a bit of disgust, ok actually a lot, that this was even started in the first place. America has an overwhelming abundance of "stuff", and ecomically speaking, we are more wealthy than any of the struggling countries who have been hit by natural disaster this last year. We are a county that at least HAS the ability to set up a system that allows disabled elderly, veterans, and others who are unable to work an ongoing income to be able to live off of for the rest of their lives. So, so SO many other countries don't even have that option. They have dirt, living in a "tent house" made with a rope and a piece of bedding.

And, I also don't believe it's ok to stop giving to a country just because they happen to have one of the worst terrorists alive living there. Should the rest of the country be punished for that? I would say no. For what we do to the least of us, we have also done unto Jesus. We ought to be giving, because we have way more to give to others than a lot of other countries have even for themselves.

But, I do not skip that fact that even in America, we have poor, starving and struggling people, children, elderly, veterans, etc., who go without food and often shelter, though there may be available resources to help them. I have pondered why, in all the abundance, people don't have food to eat, a place to live, water to drink. Is it lack of knowledge of where to find these resources? Do they feel humiliated at the thought of walking into the Salvation Army and receiving something they themselves have not worked for to earn? Is their pride getting in the way?
We all make choices, but whether or not it is our place to judge those who are in need and why they have gotten to the place where they are needy, I believe is not our place to go. God just calls us to give and have compassion, and those who live out the consequences for the choices they have made to get them to where they are in life, well, that is between them and God, if they so choose to believe in Him.

I write this to say, as a response to whoever decided to write that not-so-nice E mail about America needing to help their own more, that if you were to just merely google the words "giving in America", you will find multiple ways we as Americans find ways to give to those in our country who are in need.

Luckily, I didn't even have to do that. While looking at the most recent post from my trusted Gluten Free blogger Shauna Ahern from http://www.glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/ , she posted about this

To know that 1 in 4 children go to bed hungry in America is astonishing. Why? Because I truthfully feel that living in America, we have way more resources financially to prevent this from happening, or at least lessen the burden.
But, to know that something like this exsists, for me, is a punch in the face to whoever started that silly little E mail, and I say to you, " Nothing is wrong with us, sir/ma'am, how are you finding a way to give to those in need in your own country, instead of merely complaining about it in an E mail with no action?"