Last night, once again, I had the pleasure to serve some food at a local food bank. While doing so, I was reminded that there was a policy that each person could only receive one main meal, although we could give more than one soup or drink.
A young lady was served by me who then requested that her tray be taken away by another server and then proceeded to ask that server for another tray. Knowing what I knew, I asked her if she hadn’t eaten. She lied to me and said “only a bit”, knowing full well that she had finished her entire tray. I replied that I knew she had a previous full tray which she emptied and then walked away understanding that she must have needed that tray more than another for her to ask for it. The young lady followed me quite upset that I had taken her to task. I explained that the issue was not that I would not give her another tray (even breaking the rules), my issue was that she had lied.
So when I read this article just now, it all comes back once again to compassion and perspective. Compassion for the young lady who obviously needed the extra tray and perspective when I see stories like this speaking of famines that have killed tens of thousands of Somalians.
There but for the grace of G-d does this solar blog writer go…