Hunger, Starvation and you---speech given at Toastmasters
Kevin Carter, a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer killed himself. The reason being a photograph that he had taken. After taking it, he went into a depression for over 3 months and then finally committed suicide. What was this photograph about? Many of you may have seen it as a forwarded mail. It shows this little boy dying of starvation crawling towards a UN Food Camp. Behind him, there’s a vulture standing, waiting for him to die. Ladies and Gentleman, hunger and starvation are real problems in this world. Just because you and I are lucky enough not to have to see it everyday, does not mean it does not happen or cannot happen to us. This year India imported 3.5 million tons of wheat which is the largest it has done in decades. Our population is rising. Our consumption per capita is rising. But worst of all, our food production is falling. If we continue to close our eyes to what is happening in certain parts of the world it will not be long before it happens to us also.
There are several ways in which starvation and hunger can be tackled. There are initiatives that governments, communities or even corporations like ours can take. But what I’m going to discuss today are things specifically you and I can do on our own. They’re not radical ideas. They’re simple common sense things that can be done provided we listen to our conscience once in a while.
The first step is Consume less. More often that not people eat more than what is required. I know this sounds very difficult. Trust me….I would know. But I’m not suggesting you completely stop binging on everything you like. If you like something and you can afford it, by all means go out and eat as much of it as you can. But we are little fortunate working here in *********. Most of us eat the cafeteria food. We all know it’s not really the best tasting stuff in the world. With this food it’s easy to take a little less. I know it still sounds difficult but here’s a little technique. Take half what you normally eat, i.e. If you take two chappatis take only one. If you take two spoonfuls of rice take only one. Eat it. When you’re done, stare at your watch for 7 to 10 minutes. If after that you’re still feeling hungry go back and get some more food. No one will stop you. But in most cases what will happen is that you will not go back. We eat about five lunches every week in the cafeteria. If all of us can reduce our consumption during those five meals, it will go a long way.
The second step is the most important one. DO NOT WASTE FOOD. The Pluto South wing cafeteria shows that over 2000 kg of food has been wasted so far. And that’s just the food that has been thrown into the bin. A lot of it is just left on the plate and washed away. When I first joined my place of work it shocked me to see bowls full of food being thrown away. But when I asked people on why they’ve left so much food the most common responses that I’ve gotten are it’s too much or it doesn’t taste good. For some people it’s just a childhood habit. With respect to, the food being too much, I’ve already told you what you can do to take less. Coming to the food not tasting good, here’s another technique you can try. Hold a spoon in your hand while you taking food. Taste it before deciding how much you want to take. Yes..the guy behind you might get a bit irritated, but if you can tell him that something tastes good or bad…he might actually appreciate it and he in turn can then decide how much to take.
Finally the last thing you can do is spread the word. Make people conscious of wasting food. Nothing is more effective than hearing it from a friend or relative. You telling your friends is most effective. You telling you children, you husbands, your wives is most effective. We must instill these values into our generation and the next. The most powerfull country in in the world wastes enough food a year to feed 49 million people. And they’re considered to be a “developed country”. When India becomes one, we must redefine developed to mean a country with a developed culture where everyone understands that wasting is detrimental.
With that I come to my conclusion. Starvation and hunger are problems that exists in the world today. If we continue to ignore the signs it will affect us sooner or later. Consume less, do not waste food and spread the word. These are things simple enough that you can do without too much of an extra effort. Do not wait for another forward with another picture of a dying child before you do something. Do your part now!
There are several ways in which starvation and hunger can be tackled. There are initiatives that governments, communities or even corporations like ours can take. But what I’m going to discuss today are things specifically you and I can do on our own. They’re not radical ideas. They’re simple common sense things that can be done provided we listen to our conscience once in a while.
The first step is Consume less. More often that not people eat more than what is required. I know this sounds very difficult. Trust me….I would know. But I’m not suggesting you completely stop binging on everything you like. If you like something and you can afford it, by all means go out and eat as much of it as you can. But we are little fortunate working here in *********. Most of us eat the cafeteria food. We all know it’s not really the best tasting stuff in the world. With this food it’s easy to take a little less. I know it still sounds difficult but here’s a little technique. Take half what you normally eat, i.e. If you take two chappatis take only one. If you take two spoonfuls of rice take only one. Eat it. When you’re done, stare at your watch for 7 to 10 minutes. If after that you’re still feeling hungry go back and get some more food. No one will stop you. But in most cases what will happen is that you will not go back. We eat about five lunches every week in the cafeteria. If all of us can reduce our consumption during those five meals, it will go a long way.
The second step is the most important one. DO NOT WASTE FOOD. The Pluto South wing cafeteria shows that over 2000 kg of food has been wasted so far. And that’s just the food that has been thrown into the bin. A lot of it is just left on the plate and washed away. When I first joined my place of work it shocked me to see bowls full of food being thrown away. But when I asked people on why they’ve left so much food the most common responses that I’ve gotten are it’s too much or it doesn’t taste good. For some people it’s just a childhood habit. With respect to, the food being too much, I’ve already told you what you can do to take less. Coming to the food not tasting good, here’s another technique you can try. Hold a spoon in your hand while you taking food. Taste it before deciding how much you want to take. Yes..the guy behind you might get a bit irritated, but if you can tell him that something tastes good or bad…he might actually appreciate it and he in turn can then decide how much to take.
Finally the last thing you can do is spread the word. Make people conscious of wasting food. Nothing is more effective than hearing it from a friend or relative. You telling your friends is most effective. You telling you children, you husbands, your wives is most effective. We must instill these values into our generation and the next. The most powerfull country in in the world wastes enough food a year to feed 49 million people. And they’re considered to be a “developed country”. When India becomes one, we must redefine developed to mean a country with a developed culture where everyone understands that wasting is detrimental.
With that I come to my conclusion. Starvation and hunger are problems that exists in the world today. If we continue to ignore the signs it will affect us sooner or later. Consume less, do not waste food and spread the word. These are things simple enough that you can do without too much of an extra effort. Do not wait for another forward with another picture of a dying child before you do something. Do your part now!
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