At 8 a.m. it begins.
At 8 a.m. a whole new mind set takes over.
At 8 a.m. all eating ends.
About 19,000 children die annually because of starvation. That’s as many kids for 30 public schools in the United States to be dead.
Just think about that for a minute. Thirty schools every year is a lot. How many years would it take to wipe out the entire population of the United States?
Life is full of “what ifs,” so what if the United States didn’t have enough food to feed everyone? What if 19,000 kids were dying every year in the United States? What if we had to rely on other countries to help feed us?
There are so many questions we will never be able answer and, hopefully, will never have to, but just think: What would you do? How would you feel?
I know that I would be very scared. Going through life, many of us take food for granted. We say we’re starving, even famished. But are we really? There’s no way that we could understand how people who are truly starving feel. Even starving for 30 hours is nowhere near the struggle that some people go through constantly.
Starting at 8 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 21, and ending on Saturday, Feb. 22, at 2 p.m., I, along with others stopped eating for 30 hours.
At first, I thought I would be lying on the floor during fourth period in agony, clutching my stomach, about to pass out. I had never gone more than five hours without having eating something.
However, it wasn’t anything like I thought it would be. Hanging out with everyone and having fun made me forget about being hungry.
The worst part was around 11 that night, when I started to hear my stomach angrily roaring at me to eat. But that only lasted an hour or so. Once I started doing something, I forgot all about it once again.
In the morning when we woke up, I felt really tired and all I wanted to do was sleep but I had to get up. Throughout the morning we did a few service projects and just hung out. Waiting for 2 p.m.
When at last it was finally time to eat, my mouth was watering. We had spaghetti, garlic bread, fruit and cake.
Taking my first bite, I could feel the food sliding down through my body. The food tasted like it was just made from the best five-star restaurant in Italy, served to me on a silver platter by God himself. Can anyone say heavenly?
Although it was 30 hours of no food, I felt as if I could have gone longer. However, participating in the famine made me realize something.
Many people take all the food they eat for granted. Never once thinking about how lucky they are to have it.
When people who are starving finally find food after two days, they rejoice and are so thankful for it, because that means survival. Because of that small amount of food, they can support their family for one more day.
So the next time you eat a meal, be thankful for it. We have the luxury of knowing when we will eat next, but others do not. They may not even know if they will see food again.
At 8 a.m. it began.
At 2 p.m. it ended.
After 30 hours, my eyes were opened.
