Think YOU'VE Got it Bad?

When the global food crisis was more prevalent in the news a few months ago, and the demise of America as we know it seemed a little farther off, I began ambitious plans to add growing vegetables to my gardening activities. On a weekend getaway, I practically swooned at the site of lush overgrowth on red clay acres a friend was set to inherit in Jamaica. The future was morphing again: my expat life would be in JA, somewhere I'd never considered, and would be funded by a number of eco-friendly, organic products the farmer-preneur in me would sell to the world. I began toying with product lines in my head, designing labels, considering packaging options--the works!

Shy, polite emails from friends in Burkina Faso and Niger roused me from my daydream. While I escaped ennui in my cubicle by musing about how I'd avert impending calamity, for many, many more than me, the calamity was already conspicuously present. The $150 I might've blown outta boredom at Borders or Target or Endless, instead bought enough rice to feed a family of five for weeks on end and paid the rent and utilities, keeping them homeful for at least another month.

So, as we wring our hands, rant and wail about this Scary New World we live in, where gains are privatized and losses socialized; where no matter who wins the election, the most change we're likely to notice is how much less of it we have in our pockets, let's not forget: it could be worse.

Haiti was hit by 3 hurricanes and a tropical storm within one week, and relief supplies, slow to arrive and difficult to distribute, are, in any case, insufficient. Wyclef Jean talked to Michel Martin on Tell Me More after a recent fact-finding trip and encourages donations of as little as $5.00 at Yele to make a significant difference.

Weight Watchers has launched its Lose for Good campaign, committing to donating one pound of food to the needy for every pound of weight participants lose. Sounds more like a win-win to me than a loss. Who's in?