breadcrusts

There it is again. The tsunami must have my senses on heightened alert--sort of my own personal "code red"--because I can't stop making comparisons. I can't stop feeling embarrassed about the lifestyle we enjoy in America.

I set aside my writing a bit ago just long enough to make and eat a bowl of Trader Joe's mandarin chicken. I figured I'd check in on The View while having my early lunch. They were just beginning a spot called "Mom Inventions," or something along those lines. The first invention was a snakey-looking flexible neck tube that you could contort until it aimed a bottle at your baby's mouth, thus freeing your arms for more important, more satisfying tasks. I don't remember resenting my bottle-holding duties when my son was a baby, but apparently there are enough mothers out there who do feel resentful that there's a perceived need for such a helper.

Next, they demonstrated a crust-cutter-offer. I've seen other versions of this device in the past, but never during the week of a major world disaster. As the guest pressed the plastic shape around a white-bread sandwich and pointed out that it was simple enough for a child to use, I looked at the half-inch rim of unwanted breadcrust and thought about a plea I heard this morning on the news, a plea from an island-bound South Asian boy who said, "We're starving. There's no food and no way to get supplies. Please send someone to help us. Please send food."

Turn on the news tonight. You'll see mothers with crushed hearts on the other side of the world, mothers who would love nothing more than to "have" to hold their babies' bottles again. You'll see hungry, desperate people who would be grateful for a handful of discarded breadcrusts. And then, as the reports turn to news here at home, you'll no doubt be treated to some heart-lifting human interest story about the newest lottery winner, or a happy botox success story, or a piece introducing the latest $50,000 cloned pet. Isn't it good to live in the land of plenty?

I am getting so cynical. I can't decide if that's good or bad.