Last night, I joined my classmates by participating in the Oxfam Hunger Banquet. I had an idea of what it was since I had looked up information about it before the banquet, however I was interested to learn more about it. We were each given a card that gave us a backstory of who we were and informed us of our income level.  I had been given a backstory of someone who was considered to be low-income. The income level determined where we sat and what we ate for the night. Since I was considered to be low income, I was directed to sit on the floor instead of the chairs like those who pic
ked out a card in a medium or high income level. For dinner, my group had been given rice and beans to eat in a paper cup with a spoon, while the group who received the medium income had plain pasta, water, a bread roll, plates and silverware. The few people in the high income group had better silverware and glassware along with better nutritious meal options such as salads, bread rolls, and chicken.

During this banquet, I realized that there was no control over who received what card. It’s the same in real life. You can’t help what you are born into. Those in the lower class had no choice in anything due to circumstances out of their control. This banquet made me realize the amount of difficulty there is simply to acquire food and even then, sometimes it isn’t enough. It made me realize my comfort and the fact that I never had to deal with poverty. Not everyone has that comfort and it has made me appreciate this banquet by bringing to light an issue many of us don’t consider an issue, simply because we aren’t dealing with it ourselves.