Eating Mud Pies

I read a quotation from a Facebook post...

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

– CS Lewis

I was wondering at that time if there's such thing as mud pie, or how they are made. The results in Google are shocking.

Mud pies are pies made of dirt mixed with salt and vegetable shortening, and this is what some people in Haiti eat. The National Geographic article was written in 2008, even 2 years before the 2010 strong earthquake. The purpose of this post is to remind you and me of the value of food. We should not waste food, knowing that there are people somewhere desperately needing it.

Does it matter if you eat or leave the vegetables in your plate? Will somebody's hunger be satisfied if you finish your food? Or should we reason out that it's better to have leftovers for other people to have something to eat?

Let's assume that there are 40 students taking up an accounting course. Many of them know they will fail the course unless they get a high score in the final exam. Majority of the students find the final exam really hard, and they think they will get a low score, even if the professor has already included 20 easy questions. The highest in their class, who is certain of getting a 4.0, skipped answering the 20 easy questions, and instead used the time to answer the 5 bonus hard questions. Technically speaking, his choice of not answering the easy questions will affect nobody in the class, but this is certainly mocking his classmates' conditions. He is intentionally (or unconsciously) downplaying the importance and difficulty of the exam and the value of the 20 easy questions which the majority desperately needs. He will then reason out that he is trying to lower the grading standards, so that others may benefit, but self-honesty says it's not his true intention. If he truly intends to help others, he should have taught his classmates in that course during his free time. I hope this analogy is able to answer the questions above, and that we are reminded not only of the value of the food we eat, but also of the needs of other people.