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So young Mr. Chestnut of san Jose ate 66 Nathan’s hot dogs with buns to a tune of approximately 20,000 calories, and 1,320 grams of animal FAT in about 12 minutes?!
Whoa.
Meanwhile ESPN is covering this like it’s the Olympics, and Chestnut is being called a "National hero" for ousting that tiny velociraptor Kobayashi who’s been kicking "competitive eating champion" ass for 9 years worldwide.
Heck, I can’t completely diss on him, I suppose even lifting (to say the least of digesting) 66 hot dogs is somehow athletic or aerobic.
It makes me a wee bit uncomfortable that it’s a form of entertainment to glut ourselves sick at a time when a slice of cheese or a plain bun could feed a kid somewhere else for an entire day day.
When P and I were at a pizza parlor in Buenos aires,
the young woman behind to counter quietly motioned to 2 dark-eyed ragamuffins outside. They smilingly accepted her discreet offer and left the parlor with both hands and their mouth clamped tight on slices of ham. I will never forget the sight of those little girls, their slight cotton dresses (in winter) and silky hair, but especially their little hands on that slice. They didn’t beg. But their longing was clear enough for a kind hearted soul to offer a little comfort, a few calories.
I know life isn’t fair.
I do accept that.
But I am tired of people using that slogan as an excuse for complicity.
I know for a fact it could be more fair than it is.
I have a no-cash blanket policy to American panhandlers (I’ve worked with far too many addicts, and one our chronically mentally ill current clients spends entire SSI checks on grocery bags full worth of lottery scratchers.) But in a foreign land, "un moneda" is far too little to give.
Like our hot dog eating local boy,
I realize I too am grossly gluttonous by many a world standard.
Let’s be frank, I can list today’s take for example:
Peet’s coffee w/ cream and half a sweet cheese pastry
french toast, hash browns, soft scramble eggs a bite of P’s sausage omelette
BBQ squid balls on a stick
mineral water
green tea
BBQ chicken leg
1 pillipine mango
handful of rainier cherries and pacific northwest blueberries
famous amos cookies
2 Joy’s homemade mini-cheeseburgers on pan de sal w/ tomato
1 corn on the cob
3 ice cream dibs
and the end-all of my every day: chamomile or xiao’s blend (peet’s) tea
(and a V8 I meant to drink but didn’t get to since we did not make it to see Sicko tonight after all)
I mean really, it’s a sunday and we were invited to both a pleasant Oakland Coffee Mill brunch as well as an impromptu "JoJo ‘n Joy BBQ" so this is a bit more piggy than usual, but it grosses me out to list it.
Chris rock was making fun of kosher eaters and muslims once, pointing out that "a pork chop will save your life" if you’re starving. True ’nuff.
Waste not, want not. I wish there was a simple way to package 20,000 calories and mail it to some of the beautiful ninos we have seen in our travels.
And in ways small and large, we do. No Childquest, religious organization type stuff, (I know you people of God do some wonderful works throughout this world, but I have witnessed "aid" being doled out with evangelism in post-katrina. Such brainwashing of the desperate is exploitation, not help) but natural resource investment and indigenous self sustainable economic projects and micro loans.
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