Thoughts Regarding the Weekend

I can't believe that the weekend will be over in a couple of hours! Where did it go? It went by fast and I know it was because it was packed full of good times and people.

On Friday, I got to visit with Priya and her beau, Jeremi. I hadn't seen her for a few months (six maybe?) and it was good to catch up. Thank God for "pick-up friends"- the ones with whom we can just pick-up where we left off last. It's so easy to be Priya's friend, it's a crime. I'm blessed to have her in my life.

Founding Farmers was tasty! The food was delicious and the company was delightful. Priya, Jer, and I met some of their friends there before going dancing. I had met one of the couples before, but it had been a while. The last time I saw them was when we all brought in 2006 together at a New Year's party in Philly. After a delicious dinner, we went to one of my favorite jazz places, 18th Street Lounge. They have a deejay and dance floor on one level and a live jazz band on the upper level of the club. The patrons are typically pretty low key and chill. They can appreciate the music, make suave dance moves, and carry on a conversation. Sometimes even all at once! The night ended with a car trip to DC9, where my friend, Jay, and I met the roomies and other friends.

On Saturday, Marie, Drew and I awoke and went to the beach for a day of fun in the sun. Breezy Point is not too far from DC, so it makes for an easy ride to a not-too-crowded beach. It was nice to darken what was left of my tan from my previous beach trip and hang with Drew and Marie. The beach wasn't as crowded as I'd seen it before and we actually scored a parking spot close to the entrance. It was meant to be! Before rolling out of town, we made our traditional stop at Trader's, a fresh seafood restaurant near the water's edge. It's a bit over-priced, but well worth the cost. Their crab cakes are incredible.

Today was a great end to the weekend. Drew and I went to church, where the message centered around Matthew 25's Parable of the Talents. We were reminded to use our abilities and talents for God's glory. When it's all said and done, we'll be asked how we used them. Did we use them? Do we? At the end of the day it's just as much a crime to not use them. In addition to what the pastor preached, Drew and I also concluded that inaction is just as bad (if not worse) than action. God can use our actions, even if we fail, for His glory as long as our heart is in the right place.

After church, we went to the movie Food, Inc. Everyone should see this movie. The timing of my viewing it was perfect since I am also in the middle of reading Fast Food Nation, a book that came onto the scene a few years ago and began to challenge the way people viewed the fast food industry, among other large industries. I hope that Fast Food Nation and Food, Inc. will do what Sinclair's The Jungle did in the 20th century. The Jungle brought regulations and change to the meat packing industry. It empowered workers and called out the way companies were running their plants.

Food, Inc. is a movie that challenges the viewers to question where their food comes from. Why is it cheaper to buy fast food than quality food in a supermarket? Even deeper... do you know where the supermarket gets its food? Most food travels 1500 miles from "farm" to supermarket. Vegetables are picked before they are ripe and "ripened" with chemicals to make them appealing to the consumer. Four large companies control the meat on our shelves. Four. Cows, chickens, and pigs are fed ground corn because it is cheaper than grass. Animals aren't meant to eat corn, so their bodies can't correctly process the diet they are given. As a result, a strong strain of E. Coli has developed and is quite common in the plants where animals are housed. The hamburgers sold in fast food restaurants are packed with E. Coli killing ammonia, because E. Coli is so rampant on the "farms" where cattle is kept that a patty isn't safe enough to eat without the ammonia. Also, the average package of hamburger meat has meat from over 1000 different cows in it.

Chickens have been genetically coded to grow faster (in 49 days rather than 70) and have larger breasts, making them heavier than chickens in the past. The results are sickening and sad. Their bones can't keep up with the weight so the chickens can only walk a few steps before falling. But no worries... most of them only have the room to walk a step anyway. In most hen houses, they are so tightly packed they couldn't really walk far if they wanted. Forget sunlight. They are kept in the dark because it keeps them subdued so the farmer can go into the cage and easily scoop them when it's time for the slaughter. Perdue and Tyson both refused to grant interviews for Food, Inc. So did Smithfield Farms, which one learns is hardly a farm, but is really a manufacturing plant for cows who spend their life (if you can call it one) five inches deep in their own manure.

The movie also touches on how the companies are putting corn in all our food. Corn syrup is the first or second ingredient in most packaged foods. About 90% of our packaged food has a corn product in it. It's cheap to make, but hurting us in the long run. 1 of 3 children born after 2000 will have diabetes as a child or as an adult. 1 of 2 people in minority populations will. In the long run, this "cheap" food is costing us more.

In Fast Food Nation and Food, Inc. they both touch on what has happened to the American workforce that works in these industries. The farmers are being exploited- squished under laws and thumbs of the large companies that are buying their products. The people who are passing the laws in Washington have had former lives in the very companies who gain from them. Past CEOs, Board members, and VPs of large corporations (like Smithfield) now work for Congress and in other powerful positions. They don't really care about the farmers, employees, and the American people. Their pockets have been padded enough by large corporate money that they turn a blind eye to what their laws are doing.

A law was passed in 1996 to genetically alter the soybean. Farmers were told it would be illegal to keep and replant their best seeds. They had to start using a certain soybean that's been genetically altered to withstand a certain pesticide (Round-Up). The result: in 12 years, 90% of the soybeans are the same. The 10% not genetically altered come from small farmers who could be prosecuted and sued if they are caught not using the genetically altered beans. Why? Because continuing to grow them goes against a patent law nestled in the bill. So, our government now owns the soybean. Does anyone ever stop to think what may happen if a bacteria attacks and begins to kill only these genetically altered beans?

I haven't given away all of the movie, but have only highlighted some of the things I learned. The movie is FULL of great information. It's a spoon-fed version (pun intended) of what Fast Food Nation and similar books contain. Something is seriously wrong with how we're making and packaging food. The challenge is to rethink how you buy it. Buy from local farmers. Buy organic. Demand that animals be treated better so that the food we get is better for us. Resist Genetically Altered Products (be it fattened chickens or milk with hormones in it). Money talks and it's the only thing that these large companies hear. Make your money talk by using it in ways to support quality products from REAL farms and not the farms that are merely painted on glossy cardboard boxes with flashy labels.