What a Waste

            Have you ever heard the saying “waste not, want not” (Dive)? Now in days it seems like we are wasting a lot more than we are saving. Food waste is a big problem in today’s society, “96 billion pounds of food is wasted a year” (Dive). Everywhere you turn food is being wasted, in schools, grocery stores, and households. There are numerous ways to cut back on food waste. Americans have seemed to become too comfortable in thinking that the supply of food is endless.

            The schools in Duval County will throw food away before they will give it to a student without lunch money. If a child comes through the lunch line and they are over their allowed spending limit the cafeteria workers are told to throw away the food, once it is touched it cannot be given to someone else. Then the student is given a cold cheese sandwich consisting of two stale pieces of bread and cheese which most students just throw away. With this process not only is the original hot lunch wasted but so is the cheese sandwich. At most schools students are not allowed to share food so if a student does not want something on their tray they are instructed to throw it away. Studies show that “food waste at schools nationwide costs about $1 billion annually” (theslowcook.com).

            Grocery stores also play a big part in the amount of food wasted every year. Food that is considered “bad” is thrown out at night. I know some of you are saying bad food should be thrown away but then you have to define the word bad. The expiration date is one determining factor of bad food but the date you see is usually the date the store has to stop selling it not the date that it is no longer good to eat(webmd.com). If one tomato in a pack goes bad then the whole package is thrown out (Dive). Have you ever really paid attention to the carts in the stores that have marked down items in them because they are about to expire?

            Even in our own homes we are constantly wasting food.  Some people do not like to eat left over food therefore they just throw cooked food away after everyone has eaten. They freeze meat that they may buy on sale then forget to take it out of the freezer so they buy more and end up throwing the frozen meat away. Americans tend to cook big meals on holidays and birthdays knowing it is not going to get eaten just so family, friends, and neighbors can pick over what was cook. Children are forced to half eat a meal because even though we know our kids don’t like broccoli we try to make them eat it anyway. There are countries like Haiti that are in dire need of food and The United States of America is wasting it just because we do not value food.

            Waste can be cut back on if people really tried. There are people in need throughout the world and most people and places would rather throw food out then to give it to people in need because they are afraid of a lawsuit (Dive). Thanks to former President Bill Clinton you do not have to worry about things like this. In 1996 President Bill Clinton signed The Federal Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (feedingamerica.org). President Clinton signed this act to encourage donation of food and grocery products to non-profit organizations for distribution to individuals in need (feedingamerica.org). This law protects people from liability when they donate to a non-profit organization and protects individuals from civil and criminal liability should the product donated in good faith later cause harm to the recipient (feedingamerica.org). Grocery stores can now give freely to others without fear. Share tables will help to cut waste in schools. A share table is when students place unwanted food on an empty table for anyone to enjoy. At home we can just buy what we need or cook only what we will eat so that we are not throwing out food every day.

            The next time you are at home or in the grocery store take a minute to really look and see how much food is being wasted. Visit your children during lunch time and just observe the way lunch is handled at their school. Are they allowed to share, or are they forced to throw their food away. We as Americans have to do better and we have to stop being so wasteful. Whether it is at school, home, or in the grocery store it is up to us to stop this wasteful cycle.

Journal 5

At some point in time everyone has wasted some type of food. Most of us do not think about it because we are not starving or worried about where are next meal is coming from. I work at a title one school; most of our students are on free or reduced lunch, so every day I see children who are hungry. A lot of times the only decent meal these children get is here at school. Seeing these kids ask for more and not being able to give them seconds hurts me but there is nothing that I am able to do about that. We have rules that keep us from giving extra food to students. At my school the children are not allowed to share food no matter how hungry one child is or how full the other is. My coworkers and I try our best to get left over food after all the children have eaten to give to the hungry children but it is not something we can do every day. I try to be more conscious about the food I waste and throw away at home but sometimes it does not work the way I want it to. When I have a lot of leftover food I take it to family members and coworkers. I am trying to do what I can to stop the hunger that I see but I am only one person. But even a little help can go a long way.

Dream Deferred

Dream Deferred

            No matter your age, race, or the language that you speak there is always going to be some type of an obstacle in your way. The way you deal with and approach these obstacles are what help to make you the person that you are. According to the Center of Disease Control “about one third of teenage girls will get pregnant before age the age of twenty” (Hutton). Many teenage mothers are told that their lives are over, that they will never go to college or make anything of themselves. Not only can teenage mothers go to college and make something of themselves, they can also get good paying jobs and not depend on welfare for the rest of their lives. With the right mentor and guidance they can get on the correct path.

More and more teenage mothers are attending college and receiving degrees. I for one am living proof of this; I had my first child at seventeen. I was told many of the things that are told to a lot of young mothers. I will admit, it did take a while for me to actually start college because working full time and going to school are not easy tasks. When I turned eighteen I decided to get a job to take care of my son instead of going to school. Even though I was just comfortable working, last year I decided to enroll in school. At first it was hard juggling work and school but once I came up with a routine things got easier for me to balance. I try to schedule classes that are not right after I get off of work so that I have time to work on homework or do some kind or stress release. On the weekdays that I do not have class I work on homework and I devote my weekends to my family so that I am not always doing school work.

 Welfare is an option a lot of teenage mothers choose. “In 2011 $2.3 billion was spent in the public health care sector alone” (Solomon-Fears). These are mostly people who let others talk them down and tell them that their lives were over. Maybe that was the way they were raised so it is all that they know. Welfare dependency is a cycle that has to be broken in many families. A child seeing that their mother has been able to survive and raise children based on government assistance and has not had to work may become cool in their eyes. The fact that they can still have the things that other people work hard for, without having a job, is the American dream for some people. Why work when you can get everything for free?

At the age of thirteen a friend of mine got pregnant. As a seventh grader she did not know what she was going to do with her life or how she was going to support her child. She worked through high school and got a job at a bank shortly after graduation. Last year she graduated college with a degree in business. Women like her are the ones our young mothers need to see so that they can have a positive role model. They need someone who was once in their shoes that can show them that it is not what life throws at you but how you overcome those obstacles that help you to become a better person. You cannot let society turn you into a failure or a statistic; you have to prove them wrong. We need more successful women who were teenage mother’s to mentor our young girls to let them know life is not over just because you got pregnant at a young age. “The value of mentors- they help you identify what is important.” says Mauricio Garcia. There is nothing better than a mentor who can actually relate to a mentee because they know how you are feeling, they do not have to try too hard to relate.

            With a little guidance and encouragement any obstacle can be overcome. Teenage pregnancy is one obstacle young girls have faced for centuries but all it takes is one person to break the cycle and let them know that life is not over. Welfare is not a necessity in life, and college can be attended by anyone who desires a higher education. You cannot let society tell you what you can or cannot become anything is possible as long as you have the desire in your heart to make a better future for yourself. Never let an obstacle block your way, remember you have three choices you can go over it, go under it, or go through it. I chose to go over my obstacle, what is your choice going to be?