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Hey, ya'll--I ate my veggies

If I ever go to Africa--and I don't expect that I will anytime soon--then I won't feel guilty at all. That's because I will be able to say to anyone I meet, "I ate all my vegetables."

Yesterday on TBS eFM 101.3 in South Korea, "This Morning" host Alex Jensen interviewed a lady who sounded like everyone's mom, warning about the danger of wasting food. She actually mentioned about everyone's moms telling them not to waste their food! 


In my case, if I ever go to North Korea--which I have no interest in doing--then I will also be able to say the same thing to them: "Hey, ya'll, I ate my vegetables. So don't blame me."

A few Korean friends have told me that when they were growing up that their moms told them to eat all of their food because the children in North Korea were starving. And I suppose that North Korean parents used to say the same thing about South Korean children--until the CDs and DVDs smuggled in proved otherwise.

My parents used to tell a story--which I deny, by the way--that when I was about eight years old, I dramatically told them, "Okay, I will eat all of the vegetables this time. Really. But next week, could you plan ahead and just send them all to the kids in Africa? I'm not starving, they are." I don't remember that particular incident, although I suppose that the ass-whipping I probably got right after explains why I don't remember anything about that--or that day...

If I had known more about African governments at the time, I would have also mentioned--"and they have armed guards blocking people from sending food to the unlucky people born there, so it isn't my fault they are starving if I don't eat all of my vegetables." And I suppose that South Korean youngsters could have said the same thing in the past--and today--about starving North Korean children.

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