What is Hunger? Day Two for Josh Boschee's SNAP Challenge.

"When people were hungry, Jesus didn't say, "Now is that political, or social?" He said, "I feed you." Because the good news to a hungry person is bread." - Desmond Tutu

What is hunger?

It's certainly not something I have legitimately experienced.  Sure, I've forgotten to eat lunch from being hyper-focused on a work project or scheduled myself too tight with back to back meetings throughout the day. Although I felt cramps or ended up with a headache, I was always able to swing by the campus coffee shop or be late for a meeting to grab fast food to curb being hungry.

Having one full day under my belt of the SNAP Challenge, I'm surprised how much I have been thinking about food.  Not just from the perspective of what the Challenge means, but more about when do I get to eat again?  When I look at the amount of food that is supposed to sustain me for the remaining six days of the challenge, I get very nervous.  I've never had to think about food this way.  For me, food has always been available and something I don’t think about as part of my daily routine.  Until starting this Challenge, food has been a convenience to me, not a necessity.

 

My thoughts have been overwhelmed by making sure I ration enough each meal so as to have enough through the remainder of the Challenge.  I fear I am limiting myself more than I need to ensure I have enough for later.  While at work, I found myself planning out each day and the meals I could make to feel the most full, without running out of food.  My focus was certainly not on the work I had to get done, but rather how this Challenge I have chosen to participate in, is reality for so many. 

I am an educated adult who, for the most part, who can rationalize these thoughts and feelings; especially with an end in sight of when I get to go back to eating out of convenience.  I couldn't imagine being a child that is hungry and not sure when my next meal will be. 

When I introduced the "School Milk Bill", it was at the request of my running mate, Rick Olek, who campaigned on the idea that every child should have access to milk during their school break.  Not just the ones whose family could afford the $60 per year.  I supported the bill because at a time of billion dollar surpluses, it made sense to me that we could afford to take care the poorest of our state's children. Not only was it about nutrition, but also about ensuring that for $60 a year, most of the children who benefited from the bill would have greater focus in the classroom, leading to higher academic achievement and reduced classroom interruptions.

So I put myself in the shoes of a third grade child who is more concerned about if she gets to eat within the next day than completing her math homework, and I can now better understand how hunger is a great un-equalizer for many.