Not Enough Food

I'm soon going to be imitating my mother when I was a child, saying with exasperation at me at the dinner table, "There are starving children in China!" (India, Africa, etc. . . .).

Last night at bedtime prayers we asked John what he wanted to thank God for. He replied, "pillows and toys!" For the first time I taught a tiny lesson about poverty: "That's wonderful, John. Some children don't have pillows or toys." Then Chris told me how John had been looking at a calendar we have, mailed to us by Food for the Poor and containing many pictures of starving children. So I took the opportunity to ask John, "Remember that calendar you were playing with? With all the pictures of children?"

Our subsequent exchange went something like this:

K: "There are children who are very hungry in their tummies. They don't have enough food."

John: "They need to get food from their pantry!"

K: "They don't have pantries."

John: "They need to go to the grocery store!"

K: "They don't have grocery stores."

John: "They need to go to Wendy's!" (the fast food chain).

K: "They don't have Wendy's. You are very blessed to have a Wendy's and lots of food for your tummy."

John: "You are very blessed that God gave me to you!" (And that last line is cute because, for a while now, I've been telling John every so often, "I am so blessed/happy that God gave you to me!" and then I kiss him. I thought he wasn't registering it because he basically ignored me. But apparently he was listening carefully!)

It made me feel kind of choked up inside. John is gaining so much cognitive ability, soon he'll start to comprehend other children having less than him. And that's a good thing. It is important to us that he have some understanding of poverty, giving alms, having gratitude. But it is still sad to think of his innocence being shattered. And I felt very grateful to God to have a child who has no reason to comprehend there not being enough food for his tummy.