Maggie's Farm

The "American" diet looked revolting, and nothing like what we eat in my house, thank God! The Egyptian and Italian ones looked the tastiest. But the Chadian one made me ashamed of my own greed. I think for Lent I may try and talk my family into spending no more than 100 a week for food and sending the difference betwen that and our usual extravagant Costco and Trader Joe's and Whole Foods shopping to Chad or somewhere where people aren't overfed like us. Shame on me for making myself endless lattes and scarfing lamb chops and ciabatta when they are living on relief rice.

I know, I know, I was just as smartalecky a kid as all of us, snarling "mail it to them" when exhorted as a kid to think of the starving kids in India. But these pictures convicted me right now. In "the Diary of a Country Priest" Bernanos writes about how one doesn't fall away from God all at once or even necessarily with a furious sudden decision to become wicked, disobedient, self-indulgent, etc. Rather, one slips away by degrees, carelessness, lack of focus, laziness, gradually turning further and further away....

"The first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means."

"Faith is not a thing which one loses, we merely cease to shape our lives by it."

"Justice in the hands of the powerful is
merely a governing system like any other.
Why call it justice? Let us rather call it injustice,
but of a sly effective order, based entirely on
cruel knowledge of the resistance of the weak,
their capacity for pain, humiliation and misery."

"Our hidden sins poison the air that others breathe."


There's a wonderful cookbook put out by Mennonite missionaries called "More with Less" that I will dust off. Get it at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/More-Less-Cookbook-World-Community/dp/083619263X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201832164&sr=8-1

It's motto is "live simply that others may simply live."

Forgive the morbid tone. I should be happy. One kid has got into college and gone off to start at mid year happily. Other just got accepted for the fall somewhere awesome. Perhaps my peevishness is just predictable mommyish angst examining her own life and fairly disgusted with her own lack of faith and discipline in recent years.

Hi AP! Thanks. Agree about the rubbish some "study" these days. One of mine will get a classical education, if other one goes where I believe is best for her will have the most rigorous curriculum requirements I can imagine for anyone except perhaps an MIT astrophysicist who views the premed requirements as their fluff courses! Then again, her lazier friends here could tempt her to pc lit and lattes and oppression studies w them! Not if this.pushy mother can help it!

As to helping the poor, I've been poor and know what helps, what enables, what hurts. We only give anonymously to people near at hand or to our church and specific projects here and overseas that we or fellow worshipores have seen and worked on directly..

Thanks, Buddy. Have been a blathering verbose critter going thru the process!