This picture makes you want to tell the woman to just pick up the food, just reach out and gobble it up. What if food was out of reach? Have you ever visited a restaurant and found out you left your wallet before you ordered? Or have you went to get money out of the ATM and it was a negative balance. Panic sets in of how in the world are you going to feed yourself and your family this week?
If we find ourselves in this situation, we will immediately ignore all other transactions in order to feed our family. Food supplies is that important. How about the ones who can't find relieve, the ones who can never find a way to feed themselves on their own without the aid of their friends and their loved ones?
Many affluent people wonder, "Why don't they just get a job?", "Save your money", "Budget, Budget." I used to be that person. But now I understand fully how it feels to not be able to do for yourself. Even with all of the talent in the world, and religion and faith one person has, sometimes God just places people in a circumstance for a certain period of time in order to reach a higher purpose.
What if America was to go through that situation once more? After the Great Depression, America was very, very affluent in all aspects of society and we were very giving to the rest of the world.
Are we like this today? Truthfully, are we like that as a country, ready to sacrifice for the greater good?
At the turn of the 20th century, after the two world wars, America's heart and sacrifice of its men for other countries made it rise to the number one spot in the world. However, this position is not eternal or stable, it was based on a Godly foundation of thousands of American's sacrifice planting seeds of revival and a higher belief in God than any other country. They served God in school, in the courthouse, and on their money.
Is America the same as it was in the 1950s? Are we raised with traditions to care for the world's situation now? Many liberation movements and struggles and diseases were fought and won by the 1960s and America was living up to the founding father's beliefs.
Today, can God look at America's situation, the lifestyle and its homes with happiness? Are we fulfilling our mission as a country that the forefather's planted hundred years ago?
Planting Seeds
Similarly, it is better to teach a person how to plant and harvest wheat and then turn it into bread, than it is to give a piece of bread to a person who is about to die.
The former may be more difficult and not result in as much public recognition, but it is the only way to arrive at a fundamental and sustainable solution to the world's hunger situation. We need to begin now to study the climate, the soil, and the character of the people in areas that suffer from hunger.
In Africa, there is a species of tree called manchuka. The people in Congo feed the leaves of this tree, which are high in nutrition, to their cattle to fatten them up before taking them to market. They also pound the leaves of this tree on a stone mill, add some oil, and fry them in batter.
If a society was to plant many manchuka trees and make powder out of the entire tree after throwing out the poisonous root, that powder can be turned into bread!
Also, Jerusalem artichokes, which resemble sweet potatoes, grow very quickly once they are planted
in the soil. The amount that can be harvested is three times greater than that of other famine relief crops. Also, Jerusalem artichokes, which resemble sweet potatoes, grow very quickly once they are planted
Planting a lot of Jerusalem artichokes is another way to contribute to resolving the hunger problem. In Jardim, a large earthworm is used in farming, and this makes the soil quite fertile. This earthworm's natural habitat is Campana, but perhaps we can study its ecology and use it to help agriculture in other areas.
Koreans are working in the Mato Grosso region to study silkworms. If the cultivation of silkworms is successful there, it will be possible to make silk cheaply and sell it to buy food. There is no quick fix to the problem of world hunger.
People in each country have different tastes for food and different customs, and the plants and animals are different.
It is as important to teach the skills needed to become self-sufficient in producing food as it is to distribute food directly to those in need.
People in each country have different tastes for food and different customs, and the plants and animals are different.
It is as important to teach the skills needed to become self-sufficient in producing food as it is to distribute food directly to those in need.
To teach such skills, we need to build schools in remote areas to combat illiteracy.
Technical schools will need to be established in order to give people the ability to support themselves. The Westerners who conquered Africa and South America did not provide technology to the people who were already there. They only used the people as laborers as they needed to dig up and take away the resources that were buried in the ground. They did not teach the people how to farm or how to operate a factory to provide their own resources.
This was not right.
Providing More Than Just Supplies
Another problem faced by people suffering from hunger is that they cannot afford proper medical treatment when they become ill. On the other side of the world, developed countries are seeing an overuse of drugs, but people who are hungry often die because they cannot afford simple medicine for diarrhea or a cold.
Therefore, as we work to eradicate hunger we must also provide medical support. We must establish clinics and care for those who suffer from chronic illness.
Technical schools will need to be established in order to give people the ability to support themselves. The Westerners who conquered Africa and South America did not provide technology to the people who were already there. They only used the people as laborers as they needed to dig up and take away the resources that were buried in the ground. They did not teach the people how to farm or how to operate a factory to provide their own resources.
This was not right.
Providing More Than Just Supplies
Therefore, as we work to eradicate hunger we must also provide medical support. We must establish clinics and care for those who suffer from chronic illness.
The solution is to "teach a man to fish". New Hope Farms was created in Brazil’s Jardim region as a model to show how humanity can live together in peace.
It tilled a wide expanse of land to make farmland, and there is a cattle ranch in the higher elevations. New Hope Farms is in Brazil, but it does not belong only to the people of Brazil. Anyone who is hungry can go to New Hope Farms, work, and be fed. Some two thousand people from all races and from all over the world can always eat and sleep there.
Schools will be established there from elementary school to university. People will be taught how to farm and how to raise cattle. We will also teach how to plant and raise trees and how to catch, process, and sell fish. We do not have only a farm. We use the numerous lakes in the vicinity of the river to create fish farms and fishing grounds.
It tilled a wide expanse of land to make farmland, and there is a cattle ranch in the higher elevations. New Hope Farms is in Brazil, but it does not belong only to the people of Brazil. Anyone who is hungry can go to New Hope Farms, work, and be fed. Some two thousand people from all races and from all over the world can always eat and sleep there.
Schools will be established there from elementary school to university. People will be taught how to farm and how to raise cattle. We will also teach how to plant and raise trees and how to catch, process, and sell fish. We do not have only a farm. We use the numerous lakes in the vicinity of the river to create fish farms and fishing grounds.
Here is an excerpt from Korean World Peace Leader Reverend Moon's autobiography explaining more:
"Paraguay’s Chaco region occupies 60 percent of that country’s territory, but it has been a neglected land. The Chaco region was formed when the sea rose to cover the land, and even now you get salty water gushing up when you dig into the ground. I was in my seventies when I first went to Paraguay.
"The lives of the people living in this long-neglected land were impoverished beyond words. It caused me great pain in my heart to see them. I sincerely wanted to help them, but they were not prepared to accept me, a person of a different skin color who spoke a different language. I did not give up, however.
"I traveled the Paraguay River for three months, eating and sleeping with people from the area. At more than seventy years of age, I was taking on a task that people said was impossible. I taught the people I met what I know about fishing, and they taught me their language. We were on the boat like this together for three months and became friends.
"Once they began to open their hearts, I talked to them again and again about why the world must become one. At first their reaction was indifferent. Year by year, though, the people of Chaco began to change. After ten years, they changed so much that they held a global peace festival with great enthusiasm.
"Resolving the food situation does not mean that peace will follow immediately. After the hunger issue has been resolved, it is important to carry out educational programs on peace and love. I have built many schools in places such as Jardim and Chaco.
"At first people didn’t send their children to school but instead had them help raise their cattle. We worked hard to convince them that the children and young people needed an education. As a result, we now have many students.
"We built a light industrial factory where they could produce items using simple technologies, and the students became more interested in attending school so they could work in the factory. We are all responsible for the people around the world who die of hunger.
"We need to take action to help them. We need to feel a clear sense of responsibility and find a way that they can be fed and saved. People who live well should come down to a slightly lower position and raise up those who live poorly, to bring about a world where all people live well."
End Hunger Through The Ocean
"The lives of the people living in this long-neglected land were impoverished beyond words. It caused me great pain in my heart to see them. I sincerely wanted to help them, but they were not prepared to accept me, a person of a different skin color who spoke a different language. I did not give up, however.
"I traveled the Paraguay River for three months, eating and sleeping with people from the area. At more than seventy years of age, I was taking on a task that people said was impossible. I taught the people I met what I know about fishing, and they taught me their language. We were on the boat like this together for three months and became friends.
"Once they began to open their hearts, I talked to them again and again about why the world must become one. At first their reaction was indifferent. Year by year, though, the people of Chaco began to change. After ten years, they changed so much that they held a global peace festival with great enthusiasm.
"Resolving the food situation does not mean that peace will follow immediately. After the hunger issue has been resolved, it is important to carry out educational programs on peace and love. I have built many schools in places such as Jardim and Chaco.
"At first people didn’t send their children to school but instead had them help raise their cattle. We worked hard to convince them that the children and young people needed an education. As a result, we now have many students.
"We built a light industrial factory where they could produce items using simple technologies, and the students became more interested in attending school so they could work in the factory. We are all responsible for the people around the world who die of hunger.
"We need to take action to help them. We need to feel a clear sense of responsibility and find a way that they can be fed and saved. People who live well should come down to a slightly lower position and raise up those who live poorly, to bring about a world where all people live well."
End Hunger Through The Ocean
The author of the "As a Peace Loving Global Citizen" believes that the way to end hunger is through catching and teaching how to fish. He has one large fishing company and he is the reason why Americans were introduced to the term "sushi" in the first place with his True World Foods fishing company.He is an advent fisherman who learned the trade in order to bring about world peace through it.
Here is what he has to say:
"It was clear that catching tuna would be a much better business endeavor than raising cattle. One problem was that Americans did not eat much fish. The Japanese, however, were extremely fond of tuna.
"There were many Japanese living in the United States then, and expensive restaurants operated by Japanese sold raw tuna at a high price. Also, some Americans who were learning to enjoy raw fish enjoyed eating tuna."
Furthermore when we take a look at any map, we can see that the United States has two oceans which yields plenty of fish to eat. Also, outside the boundaries of two-hundred miles from land, no country can claim the ocean. Anyone can go out and fish. In order to raise cattle, first must buy land, but the ocean is free for anyone to farm fish with just one boat.
It is clear to see that the ocean is a treasure trove that guarantees humankind a bright future. If we look at God's ideal at the point of creation, it is only reasonable that he created the ocean as another source for food. The author continues:
"That is
why I teach that those who are concerned with the future of humans must be concerned with the oceans. When we can love and inherit the
oceans, we inherit the future.
We purchased several boats in the United States."
On Rev. Moon's boat the New Hope, he and crew members conducted a large amount of research on how to care for fish and many other elements. They gathered the information and instead of keeping it to themselves they shared it with local fisherman and the fishing industry making a huge impact.
Another point that may be difficult for Americans to choose the fishing industry as a career chose is a simple matter of seasickness. Also, fisherman traditionally do not see land for six months at a time as replenishing ships continue to supply the crew with their necessities.
Another point that may be difficult for Americans to choose the fishing industry as a career chose is a simple matter of seasickness. Also, fisherman traditionally do not see land for six months at a time as replenishing ships continue to supply the crew with their necessities.
Three-quarters of the world’s fish population live in waters near the United States. Yet, the United States has relatively few people to catch fish, and its fishing industry is extremely underdeveloped. The government has taken many measures designed to support the fishing industry, but they have not had a major impact.
The government offered to sell boats at a big discount on the condition that buyers use them for two and a half years, but few people took advantage of the opportunity. Reverend Moon tells how this reality frustrates efforts of relieving hunger through the fishing industry.
"When we started to put money into the fishing industry," he continued, "it caused a stir in each port where we went. This was not surprising, since communities prospered wherever we invested. Our work, ultimately, was to pioneer new worlds.
"We were not simply catching fish. We were taking paths not taken by others. How exciting it is to pioneer new paths! The ocean changes constantly. They say people’s minds change morning and night, but the ocean changes moment to moment. That is why the ocean is both mysterious and beautiful.
"The ocean embraces everything in heaven and earth. It can come together at a particular spot and form clouds or become rain and fall back down. I am very fond of nature, because it never deceives. If it is high, it becomes lower; if it is low, it becomes higher. In every instance, it adjusts its height to become flat."
It may be an extreme ideal that many people would flock to the fishing docks demanding to learn how to be fisherman, but if this industry would increase instead of decrease, then distribute more of the food that is in the ocean, this would be the beginning of solving the world's food problem.
Realistically, I don't want to go out for months at a time to live on a boat, but it may be necessary with the current economy. This could boost and open up a whole new job market for people out there. Unfortunately, it does not look like Americans are jumping on this opportunity bandwagon of farming the ocean. Time will only tell.
The government offered to sell boats at a big discount on the condition that buyers use them for two and a half years, but few people took advantage of the opportunity. Reverend Moon tells how this reality frustrates efforts of relieving hunger through the fishing industry.
"When we started to put money into the fishing industry," he continued, "it caused a stir in each port where we went. This was not surprising, since communities prospered wherever we invested. Our work, ultimately, was to pioneer new worlds.
"We were not simply catching fish. We were taking paths not taken by others. How exciting it is to pioneer new paths! The ocean changes constantly. They say people’s minds change morning and night, but the ocean changes moment to moment. That is why the ocean is both mysterious and beautiful.
"The ocean embraces everything in heaven and earth. It can come together at a particular spot and form clouds or become rain and fall back down. I am very fond of nature, because it never deceives. If it is high, it becomes lower; if it is low, it becomes higher. In every instance, it adjusts its height to become flat."
It may be an extreme ideal that many people would flock to the fishing docks demanding to learn how to be fisherman, but if this industry would increase instead of decrease, then distribute more of the food that is in the ocean, this would be the beginning of solving the world's food problem.
Realistically, I don't want to go out for months at a time to live on a boat, but it may be necessary with the current economy. This could boost and open up a whole new job market for people out there. Unfortunately, it does not look like Americans are jumping on this opportunity bandwagon of farming the ocean. Time will only tell.
Note: Today's message was taken from "A peace loving Global Citizen" Chapter 7 "More Than Giving Bread, Teaching How to Make Bread". To learn more about Reverend Moon's community, please visit www.familyfed.org.
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