Feed the World

[tungtied2u]

Do they know it's Christmas?

It's Christmastime,
there's no need to be afraid
At Christmastime,
we let in light and we banish shade
And in our world of plenty
we can spread a smile of joy
Throw your arms around the world
at Christmastime

But say a prayer,
pray for the other ones
At Christmastime it's hard,
but when you're having fun
There's a world outside your window,
and it's a world of dread and fear
Where the only water flowing
is the bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there
are the clanging chimes of doom
Well tonight thank God it's them
instead of you

And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime
The greatest gift they'll get this year is life(Oooh)
Where nothing ever grows
No rain or rivers flow
Do they know it's Christmastime at all?

Here's to you raise a glass for everyone
Here's to them underneath that burning sun
Do they know it's Christmastime at all?

Feed the world
Feed the world
Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmastime again

Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmastime again

____________________________________


Feed the World- one click a day-
The Hunger Site

Are we the world
you and I
showing indifference
avoiding eye contact
keeping hearts hidden

Confront the cruelty
of a world whose miserly fist
opens empty,
holding no hope
of food or shelter or peace

Offer the hand of compassion
Open the heart humanity
Share the bounty of brotherhood
Touch another and another and another
Until the numbness goes away
________________________________

Twenty years, a handful of my generation banded together in an effort to help bring relief to the starving thousands in Ethiopia.
Since then the Live Aid Trust and Band Aid have spent $144 million on famine relief in Africa.

As you read this, be mindful of those the world over who are digging in the dirt for grains of food. Give when and where you can.

 

[minsue]

 

[minsue]

Bumpity

Why?
- Tracy Chapman

Why do the babies starve
when there's enough food to feed the world?
Why when there's so many of us
are there people still alone?
Why are the missiles called peacekeepers
when they're aimed to kill?
Why is a woman still not safe
when she's in her home?

Love is hate
War is peace
No is yes
We're all free

But somebody's gonna have to answer
the time is coming soon
Amidst all these questions and
contradictions
There're some who seek the truth

But somebody's gonna have to answer
the time is coming soon
when the blind remove their blinders
and the speechless speak the truth

 

[tungtied2u]

Ethiopia...Joni Mitchell

ETHIOPIA

Hot winds and hunger cries--Ethiopia
Flies in your babies' eyes--Ethiopia
Walking sticks on burning plains
Betrayed by politics
Abandoned by the rains
On and on--the human need
On and on--the human greed profanes
Ethiopia--Ethiopia--Ethiopia

Your top soil flies away--Ethiopia
We pump ours full of poison spray--Ethiopia
Between the brown skies and sprinkling lawns
I hear the whine of chain saws
Hacking rain forests down
On and on--insanities
On and on--Short sighted greed abounds
Ethiopia--Ethiopia--Ethiopia

Little garden planet-oasis in space
Some hearts hurt--they can hardly stand it
Famine phantoms at the garden gates
Ethiopia--Ethiopia--Ethiopia

Every Sunday on T.V.--Ethiopia
You suffer with such dignity--Ethiopia
A T.V. star with a P.R. smile
Calls your baby "it" while strolling
Through your tragic trials
On and on--stupidity
On and on--the basic needs are defiled
Good air--good water--good earth
Ethiopia--Ethiopia--Ethiopia

Little garden planet--oasis in space
Some hearts hurt--they can hardly stand the waste
Ethiopia--Ethiopia--Ethiopia

 

[tungtied2u]

giving this another thought...

 

[champagne1982]

another thought

Why do Christians seem to pause and think of others, more noticably, this time of year? Where is their charity and empathy in July? Does Christmas bring an emptier belly? Perhaps, because the 1st world finds themselves bloated from their Thanksgiving feast glut, they feel the need to justify their bounty with charity?

Just thinkin'...

 

[flyguy69]

Re: another thought

Why do Christians seem to pause and think of others, more noticably, this time of year? Where is their charity and empathy in July? Does Christmas bring an emptier belly? Perhaps, because the 1st world finds themselves bloated from their Thanksgiving feast glut, they feel the need to justify their bounty with charity?

Just thinkin'...

Do you think of mom on a day other than Mother's Day? Does it mean you shouldn't send her a card?

 

[champagne1982]

Re: Re: another thought

Do you think of mom on a day other than Mother's Day? Does it mean you shouldn't send her a card?

This is why I'm stuck in the rhetorical.

Ahhh.. but we call it Mother's Day. Maybe Christmas should be subtitled, Throw-Cash-At-The-Hungry Day?

My emphasis was placed incorrectly. I wanted the readers of this thread to see the marketing ploy and realize that famine is a reality, not only in December, but all year long.

 

[annaswirls]

I think something about Thanksgiving puts people in the giving sprirt, when they re-evaluate all that they have. I also think that it is easier to spend money when you are spending money already. I think, when I think of charity at Christmas, damn I just spent 20 bucks on a toy for my kid, why not drop a 20 in that can too? Figure, what the hell, I am in debt might as well really go for it.


I also love buying presents, so I tend to buy them for all those programs, like at the Y.

I think that during the time of decadance, overstuffing, overspending that maybe we feel guilty.

Then there is the tax thing, I am horrible and rarely keep track.

Good thing is, the non-profits try to budget, knowing that 90% of their donations will come between November and December.

If it weren't for this time, do you think that the same amount would be spread out?

I don't know. I am a sucker and I always give more than I should all year round. Something about being cold I think gets to me, and I give more in the winter to shelters and the like.

That does not explain the Ethiopia thing.

Do they know its Christmas time always cracked me up. Sung to people who do not celebrate Christmas?

GOD I loved Live Aid, though! With Tom Petty (ahhh I love him) and "I dont like Mondays...." We taped it and watchied it ALL THE TIME.

damn

okay

enough mtv memory lane, go take a nap

as

 

[annaswirls]

Re: Re: another thought

Do you think of mom on a day other than Mother's Day? Does it mean you shouldn't send her a card?

I hope you do more than a card! Or it better be a damn good card

ha!

Do you make it yourself with crayons? Trace your hand and put a big heart in it? Write a poem about leaving your little fingerprints on her TV?



best Mother's day present I ever got was taking the kids out of the house for the whole day, two years ago, god I needed that

 

[Daisy May]

Re: Re: Re: another thought

This is why I'm stuck in the rhetorical.

Ahhh.. but we call it Mother's Day. Maybe Christmas should be subtitled, Throw-Cash-At-The-Hungry Day?

My emphasis was placed incorrectly. I wanted the readers of this thread to see the marketing ploy and realize that famine is a reality, not only in December, but all year long.

I couldn't agree more!

 

[minsue]

Carrie, some of us (and us not meaning Christians since I'm not one. Us, I suppose, meaning those who celebrate christmas? ) do give to charity year round. For some reason, promoting charity to others is less likely to get rocks thrown at you if you do it in December than it is in July.

Personally, I don't care what reason people have for helping others. Just that they do it.

 

[HomerPindar]

I've always wondered more why it's a new year in the dead of winter.

I mean, it's called DEAD for a reason, right? Nothing new there...

As for the donation thing, I like to remember that the biggest influence in the history of man has been the weather. December is the first month that most of the US notices that the weather is getting damn cold out.

I've lived on the streets (ok, it was volluntary wandering around the country) and I did it in the summer for a damn good reason.

That, and we love to feel guilt so we can feel like we're doing something to appease our guilt.

If any of this sounds particularly cynical or pessimistic, I refer you to my current tagline...

 

[flyguy69]

The day I give away my last dollar is the day I will feel entitled to deride another's charity.

 

[tungtied2u]

From the STC Inhumanity thread.....

This was written by Bluesky Beauty for the inhumanity challenge
(by the way...we miss you...in case you're lurking.. )

inhumanity africa's orphans
by BlueskyBeauty ©

hollow eyes,
empty dreams,
glazed with hunger's icing.

as channel surfers skip your glance,
fearing you might raise them
from cushioned comfort,
zones without such pastries
made of sorrow.

ignorance steers sideways,
easier then embracing
humanity's burden,
oceans name you
"Not Our Neighbor."

your mothers lay there dying,
your children crying in discomfort,
empty bellies mean so little
when disease famines a child's heart.
you bury those who nurture
in shallow graves where
mercy sings no lullabys.

tyrants killed their millions,
dictating who lived,
who died,
before we thought about a need
to act upon such terror.

how long must we sit
in complacency's plush leather,
worshipping our judgement,
calling it God's wrath.

twelve million orphans
not our worry,
twenty-five million already faced
the vapors of a newer madness,
while we sit in leisure
having our ears tickled
with the feathers
of our own reality.

somewhere from the fires,
the tyrants call out to their
brothers and sisters of inhumanity,
smile bleakly,
as we justify our rights.

 

[tungtied2u]

On arid soil...

On arid soil
lies shriveled husk
the promise of a future denied
dried shell cracking
lacking sustenance

a little attention shared
some care all that is required
for growth and blossoming
tears to touch
water and nourish
before blown by wind
and scorched by sun
they become nothing
but ashes and dreams

 

[tungtied2u]

It doesn't matter

where you give, when you give, how much you give....as long as you give.

 

[minsue]

Re: It doesn't matter

where you give, when you give, how much you give....as long as you give.

Eggszachary

 

[tungtied2u]

God's Perfect Plan-Neil Young

NEIL YOUNG LYRICS

"God's Perfect Plan"

There's plenty of food
on the table
Lots of love in the house
The children all do what
they're able to do
We got so much to be happy about.

I got a woman standing beside me
She really knows
how to stand by her man
She's strong and she's soft
and she's honest to me
She really helps me
to be a good man.

But nothing is perfect
in God's perfect plan
Look in the shadow to see
He only gave us the good things
so we'd understand
What life without them would be.

There's plenty of wheat
on the prairies
Lots of coal in the mines
We got soldiers so strong
they can bury their dead
And still not go back
shooting blind.

There's women and men
on the workforce
Doing forty hours
plus overtime
So the hostages
held at the airport
Can come home
to something worthwhile.

But nothing is perfect
in God's perfect plan
Look in the shadow to see
He only gave us the good things
so we'd understand
What life without them would be.

And there's plenty of food
on the table
Lots of love in the house
The children all do
what they're able to do
We got so much to be happy about.

I got a woman standing beside me
She really knows
how to stand by her man
She's strong and she's soft
and she's honest to me
It really helps me
to be a good man.

But nothing is perfect
in God's perfect plan
He only gave us the good things
so we'd understand.
No, nothing is perfect
in God's perfect plan.

 

[minsue]

For Tung

Paper Angels

Every day after Thanksgiving sale,
Malls just ain't complete
Without a bunch of decorations and a paper angel tree

There's artificial smiles on artificial tree limbs
sayin what she'd love to have and what to buy for him

Well I hope Maggie likes her new winter clothes
And her buggie with a baby doll
And maybe Tom'll smile in his new Nike shoes
When he shoots that basketball

I can't help but wishin that I could do more,
But not just while I'm shopping in the department store

Paper angels, you're in my thoughts and prayers
No matter where you are right now
Remember God's right there
He's asking all of us
To help take care of all his paper angels everywhere

Goin through the mail almost every afternoon
I see a mom and dad's worse dream,
They're on the back of a money-savin ad
To get my carpet clean

Height, weight, hair, eyes, date missin, and D.O.B.
A child's picture and the words Have you see me?

Paper angels, you're in my thoughts and prayers
No matter where you are right now
Remember God's right there
He's asking all of us
To help take care of all his paper angels everywhere

His documented bruises fill a folder file
She's a second grade self portrait drawn without a smile
And every town is littered with this kind of debris
We've got to stop this madness, it's up to you and me

Paper angels, you're in my thoughts and prayers
No matter where you are right now
Remember God's right there
He's asking all of us
To help take care of all his paper angels everywhere
Paper angels everywhere


~Jimmy Wayne

 

[tungtied2u]

In the corner of your room
lies an ignored gift
wrapped plainly in shades
of maroon, purple and red

To often overlooked,
taken for granted
and trod upon by accident
it has become damaged

But all one has to do
Is open it, to make it
glow anew, and fill the room
with all you'll ever need.
_____________________________

Although man does not live on bread alone, it does make a nice starter course. Please help those in need.