Hunger: and I'm not being as active as I should be

I said, as part of my Lenten discipline, that I would write something about hunger here 6 days a week. But this weekend, I was out interviewing . . . and the hotel had a horribly, glacially slow wireless . . . and I was tired . . . and I didn't write anything. Yesterday, I had no excuse -- I got home mid-afternoon and spent a large amount of time reading, putzing around, and not being active -- but I didn't want to turn my computer on for fear that a problem with my thesis model might still be there. So this morning I came back, the problem was gone, and I got to work. You see, I realized yesterday that I have less than a month to write my thesis. Eek! And all these are horrible excuses for explaining my lack of discipline towards my Lenten discipline.

Which is ironic, because the theme of the next essay in my cycle was always going to be what individuals can do, and here I am, not doing.

So what can we, as individuals, do about hunger? I'm going to coin my own term: the LFD method. Here it is, laid out as I've been planning (and not doing) for several days.

1. Learn. Never, ever, in my opinion, should you jump into a complicated issue like hunger without some study. These may be the words of a perennial student, but you need to know where you stand before you can move. So, if you have an interest in hunger, study it. Learn the physiology if you must, but more importantly learn the sociology. Study the economics. At the very least, sit down and think your way through the consequences of the work you want to do or support. A lot of damage has been done in this world by well-meaning ignorance.
2. Feel. I never really struggle with #1 (see the perennial student comment), but #2 gives me problems. It is important to work with people viscerally as well as logically, to feel their situation as well as understand it. I like to wall off emotion when I work, to make everything tidy and organized, but hunger affects people and can't be compartmentalized like that. Never let yourself forget that these are real people you're trying to help, not just paper dolls or numbers on paper. Almost as much damage has been done by unfeeling arrogance.
3. Do. This last doesn't do much direct damage if ignored; after all, if you don't do anything you can't do anything wrong. It does, however, cause indirect damage to avoid taking action when action is called for. You can spend all your time studying, you can pity and cry for all the sob stories in the world, but none of it feeds a single person. Think of this as the faith vs. works argument (my Lutheran training showing it's presence): knowing about hunger and feeling for the hungry should naturally, organically, lead to doing something about it. Don't forget the last step.

There you have it: LFD. Learn, feel, and do. Don't leave a step out. The first two don't have to go in order, but the last should always be last. And repeat. Every time you act, learn what the response is, ask around about the human consequences, and act accordingly. If we all started there, hunger would become a thing of the past.