On this day, 24,000 of our brothers and sisters throughout the world will die of starvation while we pursue the luxury of deciding between steak or pork chops, health food or junk food, a high-protein or a high-carbohydrate diet.

The reasons given for mass malnutrition range from the simplistic and crass to the frightening and complex:

• It's nature's way of population control.
• People are lazy and ignorant.
• The rich will demand what they have come to enjoy.
• We have upset the ecological balance.
• Food costs have risen with the rising costs of oil.
• Food corporations control the world.

And the situation continues to worsen.

Any decision for high-level wellness as a way of life must take this reality into account. The choices and demands we make will impact all the people who share our small planet. They affect the conditions of our soil, the prices we have to pay for food, and its availability to others.

Our responsibility is a heavy one. It means that we must:

• Become informed.
• Resist waste and greed.
• Possibly change our diets and eating habits.
• Work for equitable distribution of food and rightful control of the land.
• Do everything within our power to end starvation.

Nature's way is the way of balance. High-level wellness for any must mean a balanced diet for all.

See The Hunger Project website, www.thp.org, for more ideas.

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