Over the weekend, my wife and I participated in what is known around the world as the CROP Walk to End Hunger.  Sponsored by an organization called Church World Services (CWS), the CROP Walk aims to raise monies to alleviate hunger and suffering in the world.  While it goes without saying that CWS is far from the only organization dedicated to addressing these issues, the CROP Walk is special in its goal to draw a community into the effort.  Hence, on a given Sunday every Fall, communities throughout the planet join hands to spend a few hours walking (after developing a team of sponsors) to generate funds for those facing hunger.

    Most of us do not face the prospect of not having enough food to eat.  Most of us probably eat more than we should, and most of us likely have more food in our refrigerators and freezers than we can eat in a week, even two or three weeks.  While perhaps few of us are extraordinarily rich, we nonetheless do not face hunger scarcity.  For this reason, it's difficult to know how it feels.  Caught up in our busy lives, we tend to forget about people who are not, people whose highest vision of eating is not whether to dine in or go out but rather whether they can even eat at all.

    We're very insulated from much of the planet.  Hence, raising money to help feed people whom we probably will never see is doubly important.  It gives us a way to connect with the global community, a way to step into, if only for a moment, those whose lives are plagued with hunger.  It builds our sense of belonging to each other.  Most of all, it reminds us that we are not living to please ourselves.  We are living to serve each other.

    After all, we're all made in the same image, an image rooted in a profound love for every human being.

    No one who has sacrificed for a greater good comes to regret it.