Obama and the Nobel
On October 9th, the Nobel Committee announced that it had selected President Barack Obama as the recipient for its 2009 Peace Prize. My initial reaction was "For what?" After all, he has not even had a full year to accomplish much.
However, if we look at past Nobel Peace Prize recipients, they have often been those whose work is not yet finished. For example, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, the Voting Rights Act that changed the lives of millions of African Americans who lived in the South at the time had not been signed (until a year later). Let us not forget that apartheid in South Africa had gone on for generations when Bishop Desmond Tutu was awarded the Nobel in 1984. Still, the scurrilous system of oppression that was apartheid continued for almost 10 years after Tutu accepted the prize.
In less than 10 months, President Obama has changed the image of the United States from being what his predecessor George Bush and his Republican cohorts had made us look like: notorious bullies who were hated everywhere. Instead, President Obama has insisted upon us having dialogue with all other nations so that we can all share in our combined resources. So let us all say, "Congratulations, Mr. President, for a job that has not been completely fulfilled, but seems to be taking this country and the world in a brand new and positive direction."
G. Djata Bumpus
Northampton
Better Food for Kids
Just in time for the observance of National School Lunch Week, the Baltimore City Public School system became the first in the United States to offer its 80,000 students a weekly break from meat and associated chronic diseases. Traditionally, the National School Lunch Program has served as a dumping ground for the U.S. Departrment of Agriculture's surplus meat and dairy commodities. Not surprisingly, USDA's own surveys indicate that 90 percent of American children consume excessive amounts of fat, and only 15 percent eat the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables. Consequently, nearly half of American children are overweight, 25 percent have high cholesterol and blood pressure, and 30,000 suffer from Type 2 diabetes, once limited to adults. Their early dietary flaws become lifelong addictions, contributing to the public health crisis.
But change is on the way. Hawaii, California, New York, and Florida legislatures have asked their schools to offer daily vegan/vegetarian options. According to the School Nutrition Association, 52 percent of U.S. school districts now do. Parents should work with PTAs and school officials to demand healthful plant-based school meals, snacks, and vending machine items (see schoolnutrition.org, schoolmeals.nal.usda.gov, healthyschoollunches.org, and choiceusa.net).
Eli Ingleson
Easthampton
