Food for thought

The community service project that I am currently involved in is an after school program that caters for children between the ages of 6 and 15. Upon arrival of the children at the aftercare centre, we provide them with an afternoon snack. On most days, a sandwich and juice is offered. Recently, the program’s chief co-ordinator asked me to arrive earlier than usual because a company was sponsoring pizza for the children that afternoon and needed me to receive the delivery.

When the children arrived and learnt of the pizza surprise, they were thoroughly pleased. Initially, they were under the impression that they would each receive their own box of medium-sized pizzas. Soon after I dispelled their misconception, I gave them their food and they ate it. And ate it rather quickly. Before I knew it, they were asking for more and more food. Instinct told me that it could not necessarily all be hunger. However, I gave a slice or two more to some of the children. Soon thereafter, I saw the slices of pizza stealthily being placed in their empty lunch boxes. Now I wondered whether this was because they wanted to take some pizza home to share, or whether they were really that hungry that afternoon. Observing this made me feel melancholic.

It made me think back to a book called Half a Yellow Sun (Harper Collins Publishers) by award-winning Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The excerpt below is about the protagonist Ugwu, a young boy who is employed as a houseboy for a university professor.

“Ugwu entered the kitchen cautiously, placing one foot slowly after the other. When he saw the white thing, almost as tall as he was, he knew it was the fridge. His aunty had told him about it. A cold barn, she had said, that kept food from going bad. He opened it and gasped as the cool air rushed into his face. Oranges, bread, beer, soft drinks: many things in packets and cans were arranged on different levels and, and on the topmost, a roasted shimmering chicken, whole but for a leg. Ugwu reached out and touched the chicken. The fridge breathed heavily in his ears. He touched the chicken again and licked his finger before he yanked the other leg off, eating it until he had only cracked, sucked pieces of bones left in his hand. Next, he broke off some bread, a chunk that he would have been excited to share with his siblings if a relative had visited and brought it as a gift. He ate quickly, before Master could come in and change his mind.”

Ugwu is a child. Similarly to the children I care for, I understand that receiving a delicious treat is savoured.

However, I was given unpleasant stares and comments when I started refusing to give the children more pizza because I thought that they had had enough to eat. When I asked them questions to try reason with them about my refusal for giving them more food, I received the cold shoulder. As a way of telling me that they were irritated with me, and perhaps in the hope that I would give into their demands, some of the children answered “pizza” to every question that I asked.

At this point, one of the older children had told me that the food is theirs. I had no right to keep it from them. And rightfully so, I agreed. However, only partially. As the only adult with them at the time, it was my decision that having had x number of slices of pizza was sufficient. Just because there was a surplus of food for that afternoon, did not mean that it all needed to be eaten that day. It could be stored in the fridge or freezer for another day. There would be more food, more pizza another day.

This experience has me thinking about the state of mind of people who demand that they have the prerogative for certain possessions. Some writers refer to this as the “entitlement mentality.” This mentality is common in our society whereby people need/want things because they believe it to be theirs. Of course, this is not to say that people are undeserving of certain possessions. Employed people may deserve higher remuneration, while unemployed people may look to their state government for financial assistance. I am in no way speaking against the basic rights and access to rights that people deserve. I am though referring to the state of mind whereby people claim that you owe them for reasons justifiable to them. For example, without knowing your personal struggles, or story, people may demand to have your possessions because to them, there is more where that came from. I think that the current status quo of this entitlement mentality is a detriment to our society. The alarmingly high crime statistics in our country is one sign of this detriment. It is my hope that as a people, we will change this mentality through our actions. I believe that we need to work together by taking both personal and collective responsibility, care and pride to adjust the current disposition of the entitlement mentality to a positive one.