Hunger banquet

Now that it's finally November, the most quintessential American holiday is right around the corner. Ah, Thanksgiving, an entire day devoted to food and the acts of eating. Oh, and that one little "I'm full. Now what?" conversation about what you're thankful for. In our efforts to be thankful for what we have in our own lives, it can be easy to forget that there are others who have far less of the one thing we Americans enjoy most: food. Right now, more than 2.5 billion people in the world are living in poverty. Think about that. While we're enjoying turkey and stuffing, there are 2.5 billion people trying to appreciate handfuls of rice and sips of water. It's easy enough to mention such an experience in the abstract, but that's all it is for most of us at college-abstract.

In an effort to combat this all-too-common sense of distance from the problem, S.H.A.R.E. (Students Have A Real Effect) and Oxfam America: the College have teamed up to bring Oxfam America's Hunger Banquet to the College during Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. On Wed., Nov. 18, students will have the chance to experience a slice-however small-of what it feels like to have no say in how much food reaches your plate. Students will be randomly assigned to first, second, or third class status, and then receive a meal that someone in the reality of that position would eat.

I know what I would be thinking at this point: With so many other events every day, why should I go to this one instead of something else, something potentially more fun for me?

We've all heard it enough, but it's worth repeating: I am at a liberal arts college, and I came here because I did not want to settle for one straight and narrow path to a career. I decided to come to a college where I would have to take that annoying art class and that irritating reasoning requirement, where I would have the chance to explore subjects that I might otherwise neglect-not deliberately, but simply because the material did not spark my interest the way the classes in my major do.

I will not take my assigned place at the Hunger Banquet because I have a personal connection to such severe poverty, or because I honestly think that I will be able to experience "how the other half lives." I will be accepting my lot for the hour because I know that I cannot understand - because I know that the experience is a mere shadow of the suffering experienced by so many people in the world. I came to a liberal arts college because I wanted exposure to the things that, left to my own devices, I would never have cause to consider.

When you join me on Wednesday, don't just glance at your food. Take a good, long look at it. Allow for a quick glance to see what the other classes are eating, and then look at your food again. Remember last year's Thanksgiving dinner, think of the one that you will have this Turkey Day, and then (this is the hard part) remember that to several billion people, the lonely plates before us would be as much a cause of thanks giving as our heavy-laden dinner tables.

The Hunger Banquet will take place, free of charge, on Wed., Nov. 18 at 7:00 pm in the Great Room.