Hunger

I awake to the sound of Buddy's alarm alerting me to the fact that there's been a perimeter breech. Dustin cautiously approaches the tent with a hot cup of coffee  saying that he'd been up a little bit earlier but hadn't perceived anyone stirring. We talk for a while, and I learn that he's been doing his best to take care of his baby girl, holding down a steady job while dealing with a number of personal difficulties. Equally admirable to the effort he's put into caring for his family is the way he's come out to show hospitality to a complete stranger who's pitched a tent in the woods behind his house. As I've said before, these tendencies toward kindness are all around us.

Going a little ways down highway 30, I stop at a Gulf petrol station to get a few things. As has become quite routine, a couple spots Bud and can't help but buy him some beef jerky, overwhelmed with compassion for his three-legged plight. I share briefly about our mission, and then, proceed to rest a while at the picnic area nearby. While sitting there, the clerk draws my attention to the fact that Buddy and I have made front-page news. The caption under our picture says that we're walking to raise awareness of hunger, and suddenly it strikes me, the most basic and prevalent hunger that people have is for meaningful attention. If you disagree, I'd challenge you to turn on the television, and look objectively at the great lengths people go to just to be acknowledged.

Now the only reason we're in the paper is because yesterday in Somerset a police officer named Ruth stopped to take an interest in what we're doing. People are constantly intrigued and curious, frequently pulling over to ask me about what's happening and where we're headed, and you know, it feels great to know that people around you are concerned, that they want to know about you, and they have a genuine desire to be involved in your life. I believe that there's a hunger in every heart. We all want to be recognized; we want people who will invest in us and whom, in turn, we can also invest in. Perhaps just as important as our need for physical sustenance, what we eat and what we drink, is the necessity of having genuine relationships. However, as I've seen on this trek, the more immersed in technology we become and the more introverted within our quasi independent, self-important worlds, the less we're able to experience the richness that comes with those sincere friendships.

It's not my intention to be a Luddite, nor do I wish to come across as preachy, but I feel that that caption would be false if I didn't take at least one opportunity to address hunger in more than just its literal form. Therefore, I encourage everyone reading this to make it your habit of daily going beyond the common courtesies and pleasantries with at least one person. When you have the chance--and you will--to stop for a few minutes and purposefully get involved in the life of another, do it. Maybe it's your spouse, or a colleague, or simply someone walking along the road. There's a satiety to be gained through such intentional efforts that far exceeds the satisfaction of the best meal.