Before Their Very Eyes

Before Their Very Eyes 

It was in the USA in Chicago that a group of us who
were studying together, pledged ourselves to a weekend
of fasting so we would experience something of the
feelings of hunger which so many people around the
world experienced too often.

Each day from Friday to Sunday, we ate only one slice
of bread and drank water. Sunday lunch-time came, and
five of the original group decided they'd had enough.
OK. We'd agreed that anyone who wished could break
their fast at any time. We'd only asked them to advise
us of their decision.

They announced their decision by bringing into the room
where we were all meeting together, take-away food: hot
chicken, hot chips, hot dogs, cream cakes and mugs of
coffee. They set them down on the table, and ate them
in front of us.

One member of the group simply got up and walked away
to the other side of the room. It was too much for him.
Some were furious, and said so. But another said,
simply, "You know, this is for real. The poor DO starve
in the very presence of the rich, who eat before their
very eyes."

Jeff Daly, Encounter magazine (ACTS Australia)
www.actsweb.org/au