This post does not have any direct relation to saving the environment but I feel it might sensitize us to it.
One evening, about a month or so back, a couple of friends and I were having a snack at Municipal market. Seeing us, a destitute old lady walked up to us with a hopeful look on her face. She probably expected money, but it being winter, I asked her if she would like to eat something and she nodded a yes. So I went up to this ragda patty seller for another plate and gave it to her. What happened next is something I will not soon forget.
She had this look of intense gratitude on her face and it hit me. Not the gratitude itself, but the fact that she should have to be grateful at all.
A meal - one that cost me Rs.15 that I, that most of us, buy without a second thought, was probably the first square meal of the day this lady had had. And she was grateful for it. Why should she have to be at all? Wasnt everyone entitled to atleast that much? I couldn't look her in the eye and left as soon as possible.
I realised that one meal is something that all of us can give. To anyone who needs it. It doesn't cost us much.
And probably means a lot more to the person who receives it.
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The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) calculates 20 percent of the country's food goes to waste, representing an annual value of about $31 billion in lost resources. Such wastage is not productive, sustainable, or ethical. While food is being squandered in rich countries, 800 million people around the world often do not know where their next meal is coming from, 166 million children are undernourished, and 1.2 billion people live on less than a dollar a day.
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