Nonviolence means making the connection and making the connection doesn’t mean only recognizing the bad. A very important key ingredient is finding and building the GOOD! Building a Nonviolent future has its perks. One of those perks is experiencing the most amazing food you’ll ever find -- fresh and organic and cruelty-free. It tastes good and feels good to do good.
We were very excited when one of our fellow Nonviolence Connectors pointed us to GLiving.tv (G is for Green, we think. Or is G for Good or Glorious? Or maybe it’s for “Gimme some of that raw, organic, vegan, fair-trade Black Forest chocolate cherry cheesecake!”)
Check out some of the amazing recipes at GLiving including raw vegan cheesecakes, raw stuffed curry mushrooms, organic seitan salad, bell pepper and heirloom tomato salad, smoothies and sooooo much more. We’ve got our favorites. We’ll let you find yours… and then invite us over for dinner.
Food For People, Not For Profit.
For many of us living in the West or in other affluent places in the world, it’s hard to imagine going hungry -- really hungry. Nearly a billion people will involuntarily go hungry today. Remember them today. And when you do eat, do it with reverence and connection.
How can it be that in a world of plenty, there are people starving? How can it be that in a world of fad diets, obesity and stomach stapling over 40,000 people will starve to death every single day?
Something’s desperately wrong. We are despairingly disconnected. Even in the richest countries of the world, people are going hungry. When food goes from being a basic human right to being a money-maker, the people with the least money are often left hungry. Those who take on the often brutal task of growing and picking our food can’t even afford to buy it at the store.
In West Oakland, 25,000 residents have access to only one supermarket. Many lack transportation to get to the food market. So poor people are forced to subsist on hotdogs, day-old white bread and soda pop from corner gas stations and convenience stores. Just try to find an apple or any kind of fresh food.
Some kind and creative people are taking it upon themselves to change this lopsided equation. Where businesses focused on profits see little opportunity, these good people see the perfect opportunity -- to help other people. Thank you to “The People’s Grocery.”
Living A Life Connected sometimes takes a lot of hard work and ingenuity. The People’s Grocery couldn’t afford a store front and even if they could, people couldn’t get to it, so they brought the store to the people. Now their refurbished bright red truck running cleanly on biodeisel rolls through the neighborhoods bringing fresh, healthy, organic, vegan foods to the people of West Oakland.
What might each of us do to connect to those in need? All it takes is a little compassion, add a bunch of ingenuity and a whole lot of heart. Serve and repeat.
Learn more about The People's Grocery at PeoplesGrocery.org.
The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty estimates that there are 3 million homeless people in the United States. National Public Radio (NPR) recently reported that 38 million people in the U.S. have trouble finding the money to keep food on the table. Public money is going to weapons rather than healthcare, housing, and food.
In 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was deep in the organizational stages of what was to be a massive and powerful march on Washington, DC -- The Poor People’s Campaign. More than any other campaign led by Dr. King, The Poor People’s Campaign was stirring up anger and resentment amongst the power keepers in the U.S. Negotiating the rights of people of color was one thing, but organizing poor people -- people of all races -- was just too much. It seemed the great divide to be filled and the unjust force to be reckoned with was not only race, but class.
Dr. King was assassinated in April 1968. Bobby Kennedy, who had been advocating for the poor during his 1968 run for U.S. President and who was stepping in to take up many of the causes of Dr. King, was assassinated two months later.
The great divide still has not been filled. And the “danger” to the status quo continues -- an all volunteer group called Food Not Bombs (FNB), founded in 1980, gathers organic and vegan food that would otherwise go to waste and feeds it to the poor.
More "dangerously," FNB continues to make the invisible visible -- putting disparity in the spotlight. In doing their good work, they point out that we are spending our money on bombs… not food. With awareness comes the call for compassion. And for some, compassion seems incompatible with the steep and extreme drive for profit.
In reward for their good work, Food Not Bombs has been listed on the FBI's domestic terrorist watch list. Its founder, Keith McHenry, has been named "One of America's 100 Most Dangerous People" by the US State Department. All this despite their strong emphasis and organization on the principles of Nonviolence. Or perhaps it's because of the power and success of Nonviolence (see Nonviolence Works! Time for a Love Revolution in our February 2007 newsletter).
Article on Food Not Bombs...
One of the better articles we’ve found on Food Not Bombs is available on the Organic Consumers Association website here.
Also visit FoodNotBombs.net
Practicing Nonviolence: Peace Begins On Your Plate.
Every word, every action, every bite of food and every bit of consumption have built the world we now live in. And all of those things collectively a billion times over each and every day are building the future.
When choosing, buying and preparing your food, make conscious decisions aligned with your values of justice, kindness and compassion for other people, for the planet and for the animals.
Words To Live By: "Everything You Do Matters."
"Each snowflake in an avalanche pleads not guilty." - Stanislaw J. Lec, Polish poet and Holocaust survivor
In this issue …
1. Recipes! Food, Glorious Food.
2. Food For People, Not For Profit.
4. Practicing Nonviolence: Peace Begins On Your Plate.
5. Words To Live By: "Everything You Do Matters..."
About Nonviolence United.
Our vision is a world driven by the innate goodness of people and their values of peace, justice and compassion for other people, for the planet and for the animals. We are all connected.
Live A Life Connected.
The question isn't whether or not you can make a difference -- you are making a difference. But what kind of difference are you making? What kind of difference do you want to make?
Nonviolence United is building a kind and just world by helping people align their everyday choices to their values. Our focus is teaching individuals how to live A Life Connected.
Build a better life for you and a better world for everyone.
How To Live A Life Connected.
1. Become re-aware of your moral values.
2. Become aware of the power of your everyday choices. How do your choices impact other people, the planet and animals?
3. Align your choices to your values. Live your life consistently and completely.
Thank you!
Nonviolence United exists through the kindness and generosity of caring people like you. Please support our ongoing efforts to promote Nonviolence as a way of life and as a way of social change.
Keep Your Ideas Coming!
Nonviolence
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