Every morning I cut up some slices of bread into cubes and throw it out for the birds. They’re hungry at the moment and the moment I start walking back to the house they’re in – when I first started they were wary and sat on trees and watched – if they caught a glimpse of me through the kitchen window they fluttered up instantly but now hunger had overcome their fear. They demolish the lot quite quickly and fly back to the apple tree or the neighbour’s trees and sit watching and waiting.
Hunger drives the birds to a different form of behaviour and so it does with humans. What once would have been spurned is now eaten rapidly. When one has been hungry you learn to eat everything quickly in case someone else grabs it. Once the habit is there its hard to break because the fear is deeply entrenched, never quite goes away – maybe tomorrow there will be no food?
It’s hard to see how a weekend of an enforced diet as a way of showing solidarity can do much for the truly hungry. Sure it gives the participants a superficial idea of what it could be like – and it makes them feel good – but what it actually does for the hungry is the question.
Arguing about out the causes doesn’t do anything much either. We know its useless to say ‘they’ should, or ‘they’ shouldn’t because ‘they’ do. Especially when the arguments are propounded by those who are obviously well-fed. I’d rather just feed them or support those who do. Worry about the whys and wherefores when the stomachs are full.
