Hunger.

If my life weren’t complicated, I wouldn’t be me.
This is triggered by the tail end of the book title by E. Lockhart:

If my life weren’t complicated, I wouldn’t be Ruby Oliver.

Ruby goes on to say:

I can’t forget things, or ignore them–bad things that happen. I’m a lay-it-all-out person, a dwell-on-it person, an obsess-about-it person. If I hold things in and try to forget or pretend, I become a madman and have panic attacks. I have to talk.

Travis Bickle (De Niro/Taxi Driver/1976) pops in: “You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? Then who the hell else are you talking… you talking to me? Well I’m the only one here.”

I can’t forget things, or ignore them? Most certainly Yes.
Not so many bad things happen, and I’m (very) grateful for that.
I’m certainly a lay-it-all-out person (often to much regret),
and boy, can I obsess. Master class here.
As to a madman,
that depends from which side of the desk you are sitting on in evaluation.
And, as to having to talk, not so much.

It’s Tuesday morning.
It’s overcast. It’s drizzling and traffic is snarled.
I’m running late to a 9 am start at a volunteer event at a Food Bank.

There’s a logistics snag.
The Food Bank manager wasn’t expecting us for 3 hours.
There’s frustration etched in her face, but she puts on her game face and scrambles to coordinate activities for two corporate groups, in a space designed for one.

She proceeds with her introduction:

“I worked for 14 years at a Soup Kitchen before joining the Food Bank.”

“When the Mobile Food Truck goes on its run, the families waiting for food, stretch for hundreds.”

“In the Kid’s Backpack program, we deliver backpacks to schools for children from families below the poverty line. This is so they can eat on weekends and supplement the breakfasts and lunches in the school food program during the week.”

“As long as the price of junk food is cheaper than vegetables, rice, bread and other nutritious food, this problem will never turn.”

“Anything that is spoiled or any packages where the seal is broken, we need to throw out. We can’t have any of that shared with the children.

“The organization was founded by a teacher who they concluded that children were coming to school hungry.”

Our team finished food sorting, boxing and packing, wearing hair nets, plastic aprons and vinyl disposable gloves.

We sat chatting around make shift tables. The mood was light, everyone pleased to have been out of the office for 3 hours to help.

The take-out delivery arrived stacking bags and boxes on the tables.

It was lunch time. Salad and pizza.

We ate.

Notes:

• Please consider giving to Feeding America
• Image Credit