Yesterday, I took part in a community food drive and delivered a short speech honoring an elderly man who devotes much of his time to feeding the hungry people who live around us. In my speech, I cited a few statistics, including the fact that one in six children in my state lives in a home where parents struggle to put food on the table. Close your eyes for just one moment and imagine how frightening and sad it must be to wonder if your children will have enough to eat today.
It's enough to move me to tears.
This week is also National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. Eating disorders, which include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder, affect as many as 10 million females (and one million males) in the United States, according to the National Eating Disorders Association. It's tough to get your head around that, isn't it? Countless parents worried about being able to feed their children, while millions of girls and women deliberately starve their bodies of nutrition. But close your eyes again and imagine that you're a mom or dad watching your teenage daughter waste away. The refrigerator is full, the meals are cooked with love, but no amount of pleading can make her put fork to mouth. Imagine how frightening and sad it must be to wonder if your child will ever find peace and restore her body to health.
That image also moves me to tears.
As any professional will attest, eating disorders are about so much more than food. They're often about control, self-worth, anxiety, depression, outside pressures, relationships and, yes, body image. If you suspect your child may have an eating disorder -- or if you suspect that you may have one -- contact the National Eating Disorders Association. You don't have to go through this alone.
This is all sad news. Sad that there are so many kids going hungry, and sad that there are kids that have food, and won't eat it. I'll consider myself blessed that the biggest problem we have is getting everyone to not complain while eating their broccoli. This all reminds me that I shouldn't take for granted what we have right now...
Posted by: Lance | 02/23/2009 at 07:14 AM
I just read this article, and thought of your blog. And it actually kind of has something to do with the blog topic here!
Oh, if magically tomorrow we all woke up and appreciated how beautiful we all really are.
Have a happy Monday!
http://www.oprah.com/article/spirit/knowyourself/pkgempoweryourself/200903_omag_seeing_yourself/1
Posted by: jamie | 02/23/2009 at 07:27 AM
Those stats are terrifying. It's difficult to wrap your head around the idea that the world seems divided into people who are starving because they can't afford food, people who are starving themselves on purpose, and then people who are eating far too much. There's so little balance.
Posted by: Sagan | 02/23/2009 at 07:56 PM
Thanks, Lance -- I learn a lot about counting my blessings and appreciating what I have from reading your blog. Jamie, thanks for that link. I just read that piece a few days ago and loved the line about the author "losing herself in laughter." If only we could all see ourselves as the people who love us do. Sagan, it's all about balance, isn't it?
Posted by: Dara Chadwick | 02/25/2009 at 05:53 AM