Although it’s beside the main point of his column, one sentence of Ed Spivey Jr.’s “The Party of Pink” (September-October 2014) jumped out at me. In reference to the intolerance of some Americans for undocumented workers, he says, “People are entitled to their opinions, even if the food on their plates sits in mute repudiation of those beliefs.”
A few days earlier I had been visiting an elderly woman with dementia, and her first words to me were, “My lunch is sitting there like an accusation.” She was referring to the spills on her clothing. However, when I read Spivey’s comment, I appropriated both his statement and the elderly woman’s comment as a challenge to how I look at the food on my plate. Does the way I buy and consume food reflect and support my core beliefs, or is my lunch an accusation? Most levels of American society have become so privileged that it is easy to be complacent about where our food comes from and ignore the human costs of easily accessible food. If we do all things, including eating and drinking, to the glory of God, we must be mindful about who is providing our food and what their struggles are.
Linda Tshimika
Fresno, California
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