Well, here we are - 2009 has begun.
Many will view this new year with a sense of foreboding: money worries prevail, and some worry that economic recession will become depression.
Let us take a moment to put this into perspective. Did you put food in your belly this morning, and are you warm? Is this the same situation as this time last year? If the answer is yes, then be thankful that what really matters hasn’t changed for you.
Can’t afford that new flatscreen TV yet, or are you cutting corners with your holiday bookings? Yes? Well, boo-hoo. Move along, suck it up and thank Kelloggs that your family has eaten. Many go without food, and have done for years, and will continue to do so.
Meanwhile, the media presents footage of obese single parents with obese children, complaining that they can’t afford their fast-food take-aways, against a backdrop of leather sofa, Sky telly and Playstation. Or, picture if you will, unemployed ‘Stan’ who claims he hasn’t eaten for a week, being filmed shakily opening a new packet of fags.
The mind boggles. Are we so blinkered that we now view luxuries as a state-given right? Lord help us.
Happy 2009 to us all - but especially to those who genuinely struggle to put food on the table…
