Rich Food Worry - 豐富食物的擔心

San Francisco Chronicle reported that half of the blood donations in China immediately after lunar new year had to be discarded due to high fat content.  People consume huge amount of high protein and fatty food during the celebratory period.

I spoke to my parents recently and they worry about how to preserve huge quantity of food - fish, meat, poultry, etc.  Their two freezers are full and the temperature is rising so the food in the balcony will not stay frozen much longer.  I asked if they want to give some food away, they said that all the relatives have plenty and share the same worry.

My next question was would they give some to the poor and my dad was dumbfounded by my question.  Once he realized that I was serious about giving the abundant to the poor, he started to state obstacles - people don't give away food, people are leery of food given to them - they even worry about the safety of those purchased from stores let alone free from strangers, the poor had help from the governments, etc.

It is sad to realize that there is still no tradition of sharing with the less fortunate there.  In the US, many people donate goods and time to the poor (though I would rather see no one falls into that category, but that is unrealistic).  Many NGOs help to facilitate such charitable efforts as well.

China is a very tough country to live in for the poor - there are many working poor and unemployed and the helps they got, survived skimping from various levels of corrupted official, were dismal.  Chinese government also does not like organizations not sanctioned by itself.

It is hard to combat poverty if the better offs would not see the needs or usefulness to helping the poor.  US is doing better now but it seems the rich and powerful here are determined to learn from China, and siphon more money from middle class to their ever expanding coffers.  



舊金山紀事報报道，中國農曆新年後一半的捐獻血液被丟棄了，因為它的高脂肪含量。人們在慶祝期間消耗大量的高蛋白質和脂肪的食物。

我跟我的父母最近通话时，他們擔心如何保存大量的食品 - 魚，肉，家禽，他們的兩個冷凍機等都以满了，随氣溫上升，在陽台上的食物也不會凍結更長的時間。我問他們有没有想把一些食物分给别人，他們說，所有的親戚都有很多食品，並有相同的烦恼。

我的下一個問題是，他們會不會把一些食物送给一些相对贫窮的人。我的爸爸觉得我的問題很不着边际。当他意識到我是認真时，他開始狀设障礙 -- 中国人不乱送食物，人們对從商店里購買都懷疑安全性, 对陌生人的赠与食物，他們会更擔心安全，窮人有政府的幫助，等等。

認識道那裡沒有與不幸的人分享的傳統是很让人悲叹的。在美國，許多人向窮人捐贈物品及時间（儘管我寧願看不到贫穷现象，但那是不現實的）。許多非政府組織提供促進慈善的種種努力。

窮人在中國是非常艱難的 - 許多工作窮人和失業者得到了的從各級貪官污吏剋扣后点滴幫助，總是差強人意。中國政府也不喜歡未获它批准的組織。

如果富人認识不到幫助窮人需要或效用，消除貧困是很難的。美國现在做得好些；但是，現在看來這裡的有财有势的人正決心學習中國，以從中產階級虹吸更多的錢，以不斷擴大他們的金库。