Long story short, we failed the financial part of this challenge. We went over the budgeted allowance for this Hunger Challenge on Friday. After that, we basically threw it all out the window. (We are traveling this weekend too, so eating out much more!!). We could have brought the PB&J along and survived, had this been necessary. However, we felt like we've experienced enough of this challenge to take away some positives.
What I learned:
You really can't judge someone until you've walked a day in their shoes. Cliche, but true. While I realize this might sound really mean, I didn't have too much empathy (ok, almost none) for people living on our country's welfare system (who are capable of working). Or those collecting unemployment who really aren't job seeking. Or those who collect disability yet seem perfectly fine to be working. I do realize that in some cases, these programs are completely needed. Typically temporarily.
But I sometimes find myself thinking about how responsible we are, and why, because when we are retiring our government will probably just swoop in and "rescue" all our generation who lived beyond their means, and has no retirement savings.
This challenge has given me some empathy for those living on food stamps. They aren't just living the "high life" with the bill footed by our tax dollars. I understand, firsthand now, that going to bed hungry is a reality for many in our country. 35 million Americans are on food stamps--this is roughly 12% of our country's population. And spending $1.37/person per meal really doesn't leave one much flex room! We certainly didn't pull it off!
Overall, I feel really blessed we aren't actually in a situation to have to live like this every week like so many are these days!
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