none of the time.
i had this quick thort when we went shopping yesterday afternoon – as we were in the line about to pay we realised we were six eggs short of a full basket, or that we might need more than the six we were going to get, so tbV waited in line and i ran across Pick ‘n Pay to the egg section to grab some eggs – looked for the cheapest box of six and grabbed them and started to walk away when i realised i hadn’t grabbed the free range eggs [which we normally buy] and so i put my first box back and grabbed my second one…
box of normal be nasty to the chickens eggs – around R7
box of free range assume we’re being nicer to the chickens eggs – around R10
and as i walked back to Val i thort “we’re screwed”
if it ever gets out that i spent R10 on eggs when i could have spent R7 on eggs, the ‘give to the poor’ people will be on my case
on the other hand if i spend R7 on normal eggs instead of spending R10 on free range eggs, the ‘be nice to animals’ people will be on my case
so i took the eggs back and we decided to go without to keep everyone happy
[except for the bit about taking the eggs back]
but my point is that if you try to keep everyone happy, you actually just can’t – if you spend your life on poor people, the animal rights people will be after you and if you switch to animal rights then the HIV/AIDS people will be on your case and if you try juggle all of those then what about the children and if you look after the children then the old people and so on and so on…
the problem is not so much me choosing one thing over another but each person not doing their thing – we can’t all save all of the poor but if every person on the planet was trying to help one poor person i think we could even eliminate this thing – do the thing you’re called to do and if you don’t feel “called” to do anything then do the thing that’s on your doorstep until you feel a call…
you may have heard this before:
This old man is walking along the beach when he spots a little boy deeply focused on a strange task.
The tide has gone out, and there are hundreds of thousands of starfish up and down the beach that are now baking in the sun. The little boy bends down picks one up and throws it into the sea to safety.
After watching him for a while, the old man eventually can’t take it any longer and he approaches the kid.
“What are you doing” he asks.
“I’m saving these starfish,” the boy confidently replies.
The man gestures up the beach at the masses of starfish baking to death in the sun. “There are thousands of starfish there. What difference do you think you can make?”
And the little boy bends down and picks up a starfish and shows the old man and says to him, “I am making a difference to this one” before throwing it out into the sea. And then bends down to pick up another one. “I’m making a difference to this one.”
but take it one step further…
WHAT IF EVERYONE WHO WAS MEANT TO BE ON THE BEACH WAS ON THE BEACH?
One little kid and thousands of starfish – absolutely no noticeable difference. He can save a starfish here and there but he is going to make virtually no impact and there are going to be a lot of dead and rotting starfish polluting the beach. But if everyone [starting with the church cos this is who we’ve been called to be] got down to the beach, where the need is, and started saving their one, their ten, their hundred… then there is a chance…
I have always loved the starfish analogy.
cool addition to it 🙂
You are right to not buy any eggs at all if they’re not free range. Not buying the eggs will not lead you to starvation. Its better to buy fewer eggs that are free range as they are many times more nutritious. So in terms of economics, nutrition and animal rights, it’s the best choice.
Now what if there was a poor person outside needing food, and the nearest shop is rainbow cruelty chicken eggs. Do you buy them to feed the starving child? I’d say yes as the eggs are already there. If you had a choice, free range all the way – also much tastier, not that watered down taste of the non free range.
We should help as much as we can all causes, as all causes are interlinked in some way. Helping save forests gives us clean air which helps people. Helping poor kids and teaching them well leads them to become healthy strong caring adults who look after us when we are old and the earth.
Everything is interlinked. Some people care for the elderly, some for disabled or retarded people, some look after the sick or are better with children or animals or saving plants from extinction. The world is a living organism with each person and species relying on one another.
If there is a worm on some hot cement, we pick it up and put it on the grass. It moves to a plant and eats some leaves. Eventually it becomes a butterfly and pollinates hundreds of fruit trees giving us fruit. Interlinked.
Eating free range shows respect. It plants a seed of respect that we carry over to other animals and people, ourselves and God.
[…] that would have meant one or two more voices of sanity and Godliness… [this reminds me of the little kid with the starfish on the beach making a difference to them one at a time but WHAT IF EVERYONE WHO WAS MEANT TO BE ON THE BEACH WAS ON THE BEACH – then suddenly you are […]