When you realize that the picture of a malnourished kid with ribs poking out and a dry mouth is not just a picture, the reality hits hard. It might be a poster that you saw on a charity website, but it’s the reality for almost 690 million people in the world.
World hunger is a real issue and one that the UN and many countries alike have tried to combat and failed. It might be another unfortunate shortcoming on the list of agendas for the year for these institutions, but for the 690 million stomachs, it means a slimmer fighting chance against death.
The Disparity of Hunger and Gluttony
These are not just numbers; these are people with lives and dreams as real as ours.
When you see them yearning for a few sips to moisten their lips and someone else wasting tons of water during a relaxing hot bath, the disparity is hard to miss. All that you find on the dinner spread of a fancy feast could fill the stomachs of so many!
Families are waiting for divine help when they see their hungry child breathe his last. There’s so much suffering in the world that you find it hard to preserve your faith in the Creator.
And it’s in moments like these that you seek an explanation from a divine source. You want answers for why some people are bestowed with trials as trying as this for no fault of their own, and others sail through life with no accomplishment to their name.
Divine Oblivion or Human Ignorance
Many people will make statements as bold as: is there a Divine Being? Is the Creator even listening to our cries? Is the Divine blind to our suffering? There’s no doubt about the validity of such questions because only the most inquisitive and intelligent minds ask questions. And global hunger is not a caricaturized commercial agenda to reap charity.
John Holmes, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, testified that 25,000 people die due to hunger and hunger-related diseases every day. That’s a number too large to ignore!
Among other things that 2020 brought on us, it aggravated global hunger because of the novel coronavirus. 12,000 people are expected to die daily from COVID-19 caused hunger, which is more than the fatalities on account of the virus alone.
In conclusion, this crisis leads to a spiritual dilemma of a much greater gravity: is it happening due to divine oblivion, or are we missing out on something? Is there another reason for all that’s happening in the world?
Beyond the Material Realm, Where the Answers Lie
The divine is everything that the human isn’t.
It’s beyond the material realm that we inhabit. It’s a world that begins the horizon, and that’s why we fail to see how it operates or whether or not it exists.
But it’s precisely believing in the unseen divine Creator that requires all your intellectual strength.
You can’t get answers for all your hows and whys before believing that a Creator is looking over you, your pain and bliss, and destining you for the ultimate through the divine path.
What if we were to say that these realities are woven into your reality through a collective narrative of the world so that you’re blinded to seeking solace in the divine? It’s easy for the Creator to undo the bad things in the world. But then would you have a role in what happens, any responsibilities, or any growth and learning from taking action yourself to use your free will to enlist divine help?
Your life may seem chaotic and disorderly, and all the suffering, a failure of the divine, but know that nothing in this world happens without reason. There are signs of the divine all around you; it’s just that we lack the language to interpret them. There are answers for why global hunger is happening, too. Because it’s not a failure of the divine, it’s a doing of the evil extraterrestrial devils out to destroy mankind. But we’ll get rid of these if we persist in our struggle to find and stick to the divine path.
Sometimes, treading that path seems like walking through the wilderness, looking for meaning, divinity, purpose—something more of a resolution to your inner conflicts. But there’s a hidden truth waiting to be uncovered by you; that’s your reward for staying on the divine path.
Now you have the chance to direct your questions to the Creator and seek answers. It’s no longer impossible. Speak to your Creator, your divine inspiration, because enlightenment is the only light that can overcome the darkness.