MAY 13 ― When you can’t finish your meal, do your friends or parents say, “Think about the children in Third World countries” to convince you to do so? I don’t think it made sense to me.
When I was growing up, I thought that me clearing my plate made no difference whatsoever to the fate of children in those countries. It wasn’t as if the uneaten food could get to them. Or that my doing so would mean I was making a statement about malnourishment or food poverty or poverty in general.
Yet that statement brings to perspective a distinction between us and them: privilege. We have the privilege of choice to eat, and to not eat because resources are abundant where we are, because we can comfortably afford these resources and enjoy them. But they don’t. Because of circumstance that are beyond their control since birth or because of the nature of certain governments or both.
So does it matter whether or not we finish our food? I’d say: Yes, it matters, not to them, but to us.
Not in the sense that we need it to nourish us physically, or that we should do it out of fear or obligation to our parents. But that we should do it to do justice to our privileges. To quote Wellesley High School English teacher David McCullough, who gave a high school commencement speech in 2012 that was far from run-of-the-mill, we are to “be worthy of our advantages.” And that isn’t limited to finishing your dinner.
To take the dinner analogy further, being worthy of our advantages would mean using the energy obtained from consumption of things that edify ourselves and others, like exercising to keep fit (think about those who are unable to do so, like the physically disabled), or putting effort into studying to nourish our minds (think about children who are deprived of education, whether due to culture or inadequate resources).
There are many ways to achieve the same end, of course. But I think my point here is that sometimes we should do things not for external validation, or due to coercion, obligation and other factors that stem from without, but that we should do things out of respect for ourselves.
Because we understand that we’ve been blessed with the position that we are in, with the choices that we have, and know that exercise of a rational, sensible mind, would make all the difference.
There is this parable in the Bible, where the master gives three of his servants the same amount of money before he leaves. When he returns, two of his servants made profits from the money he gave them initially while one of his servants hid the money away and did not bring in profit. The former two were rewarded, but the last one was punished for being foolish. While it is a story, it remains applicable to all of us: that if we’re not making use of the talents we’re given, we’re being foolish. Because we fail to treasure what’s been given to us, and don’t see value in making more out of what we already have.
With the amount that we’re blessed with ― ample food, warm clothes, peace and security ― there are many things we can do that others who are deprived of these essentials can only yearn to. To learn. To live comfortably. Not to worry if there’ll be civil strife in your area tomorrow.
More often than not it's easy to overlook and take for granted these privileges because it seems as though most people we know in our immediate context enjoy the same things. Being appreciative and thankful helps put our advantages in proper perspective and prompt us to seize opportunities presented to us, to take charge of our lives actively.
Franklin Roosevelt once said, “With great power comes great responsibility”. Indeed, to more that is given, much more is expected from.
*This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
