Saturday, July 12, 2008

Shame

"When they were filled, he said unto his disciples,
Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost." John 6:12

It's a story the news media normally reserves for the "less serious" portion of the broadcast. You know, those last five minutes of the newscast where surfing dogs and what celebrities like to drive take center stage. The casual and humorous treatment of what is a tragic endorsement of gluttony and waste make the focus and main complaint of this post both exasperating and upsetting. What am I referring to? How about those insufferable eating contests that actually have an international organization (International Federation of Competitive Eating) that oversees speed-gorging tournaments. American speed-eater Joey Chestnut (featured here on the left) of San Jose, California is the current world record holder for competitive eating, stuffing 59 hot dogs in just ten minutes. Oh, Joey, you make both your parents and country so proud! I'm sure you don't regurgitate a morsel of food after a splurge of that magnitude.

I don't mean to sound rigid, but these contests make a sport out of misuse and squander at the expense of human beings around the world who go without food, not to mention those who actually starve to death. There are varying global statistics on the yearly number of people who are malnourished, but most evaluations place the number between 840 and 854 million human beings, which includes up to 16,000 children dying each day of starvation.

Remember this picture from 1993?

8 comments:

Jobove - Reus said...

very good blog, congratulations
regard from Reus Catalonia Europa
thank you

Shirley said...

There are so many things wrong with our Western culture, and this is definitely one of them.

Katie Alender said...

Oh, that picture!

Kimberly said...

The picture of the child in the field breaks my heart. We need to see more pictures like this to remind us what the world is really, really like. I agree with your blog post. Eating contests??? Perhaps they should have a food drive contest. I am saying prayers for all those who go hungry and for those who waste food without a second thought.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and your wisdom and bringing this to our faces.

Blessed be God Forever!

Kimberly

Adrienne said...

Bingo. I was just looking at the pictures of the bull running and thinking "aren't we supposed to be getting more civilized not less??

The way we chose to entertain ourselves is just shameful and so very, very lacking in class.

Anonymous said...

couldn't have said it better myself....

those contests have always seemed horrible. Celebrating and rewarding GLUTTONY.

ugh.....

but then I feel that way about water parks too. Hal the people on this planet can't even find clean water and we're just dancing around playing in it.

it's a waste of energy and resources to run those places.

but - I've been know to be a killjoy! hahaha...

good post!

Terry Nelson said...

Very well said! It is indeed a shame.

ignorant redneck said...

Gee Thanks Tom--

I hadn't felt culturally guilty yet today. :P

I agree 100% with your point. It's the sort of thing that makes me fear a devine chastisment!

At least the running of the bulls has the excuse of being a mithrait survival from Roman times.

Gluttony is just a sin.