A Child of Plenty

A morning in the Land of Plenty

I love to see happy children enjoying as much good in life as possible.

I like to see appreciative beings, sharing, loving, aware of abundance.

Children trying to spread plenty amongst many is a delight.

Clouding this is a disturbing trend of waste I see these days. Not just in children but adults as well.

I wrote about our unconscionable waste in another article here.

I firmly believe that changing societal limitations begins with educating our children to make choices to the benefit of our best lives.

Breakfast buffet

The kitchen is humming.

Chef Willie the 12 year old is at the helm.

Scrambled eggs, warm tortillas, a skillet full of bacon, salsa too.

Three teenage boys at breakfast. One scoots through first and snags his bacon.

Two ten year old girls join in. Swiftly passing through the buffet scooping up big piles of bacon on their plates.

Just a couple of broken pieces remain.

“Who ate all the bacon!?”, good natured kidding bursts out. “Was it you?”, “No”. “Was it you?”.

All settle onto the table for the Breakfast Burrito Treat.

Yep, the big hungry teenage boys missed the bacon.

Kitchen empties

Breakfast moves fast.

Sunshine, hoops to play, bikes to ride.

Big boys leave out for their busy Sunday Free for All.

Two ten year old girls are left to finish.

One picks up her plate still piled high with bacon.

Announcing she is finished she walks across the room. Her bacon slides off her plate making a delicious crispy landing straight into the trash can.

Empty kitchen now.

Aghast

Horrified at her action I immediately blurt out, “The boys hardly got any bacon. She threw all she took away!”

It’s always like that. It’s just her older sister, and her mother in her family.

Her father owns about six companies. He nets about $240,000 each week.

Shopping for Christmas, they hop a jet to NYC.

She knows nothing but wealth and excess.

Reflection

What will it take to recognize wasteful ways?

How can we learn to spread our resources equally?

It’s disturbing to be told, “She’s always like that.”

If it were a random act instead of habit we could easier hope for change.

Medium writer Thomas Oppong wrote, “Once You Carry Your Own Water, You Will Learn the Value of Every Drop.”

He maintains, “You can only gain a deeper appreciation. through personal experience and responsibility. Every drop spared is a drop earned.”

We must be careful what we teach. When faced with the buffet of life if our eyes are bigger than our belly pass the plenty to another.

Our earth is telling us now that our resources are not infinite. All has a beginning and an end.

Plan for the end in mind.

We cannot afford to waste. We need to value every drop.

Blessings from Jamaica

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate.

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