Dec. 21, 2008 (World News Trust) -- It’s
holiday season in Manhattan and despite the economic downturn, there
seems to be no shortage of well-dressed humans cavorting, laughing,
and spending freely. Walking among them, a homeless man begs for
money -- shaking his tattered coffee cup (adorned with images of Greek
architecture) to rattle the few coins therein. A veteran of the first
Gulf War, this man is no longer concerned with yellow ribbons. Right
now, he’d settle for a scrap of food and a dry pair of shoes.
The Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA) estimates
that nearly 200,000 veterans are homeless on any given night
and nearly 400,000 experience homelessness over the course
of a year. Forty-five percent
of
America’s
homeless veterans
suffer from mental illness
and half have substance abuse problems.
According to the National Survey of
Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients, veterans account for
23 percent of all homeless people in America.
The
homeless vet is barely noticed by the 30-something corporate lawyer
whizzing past him, on his way to dinner. It’s a holiday
gathering to celebrate hope, change, and all that good stuff. The
lawyer -- still proudly wearing his Obama button -- is
running late and his colleagues have already ordered appetizers:
shrimp cocktails all around (for only $17.00 each).
The
United Nations Environment Program has estimated that a quarter of
the destruction of mangrove forests
stems from shrimp farming.
After
the 2008 Burma cyclone,
Association
of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan
blamed “encroachment
into mangrove forests, which used to serve as a buffer between the
rising tide, between big waves and
storms and residential areas.” He added: “All
those lands have been destroyed. Human beings are now direct victims
of such natural forces."
The homeless vet sees a Wall Street
type -- still proudly wearing his Obama button -- approaching him. “Hey
buddy,” the vet tries, “how about a bailout?” The Wall Street
type doesn’t laugh. The Wall Street type doesn’t even see the
homeless vet. The Wall Street type tosses his half-finished Coke onto
the sidewalk.
As
labor activist Ray Rogers explains, "The reality is that the
world of Coca-Cola is a world of lies, deceptions, corruption, gross
human rights and environmental abuses!" Rogers
told
Democracy Now that
Coke “contracted with paramilitary death squads to torture, kidnap,
and murder union leaders at its bottling
plants in Columbia.” If
geo-political issues aren’t enough to move you, consider what
Marion Nestle, author
of Food
Politics: How the Food Industry Influences,
says about Coke and its ilk: "
The
relationship between soft drink consumption and body weight is so
strong that researchers calculate that for each additional soda
consumed, the risk of obesity increases 1.6 times."
The homeless vet picks up the Wall
Street type’s Coke and downs it in one big gulp. Afterwards, he
tosses the empty cup onto the sidewalk and glances to his left just
in time to look through the restaurant window and see the corporate
lawyer cheerfully biting into a piece of shrimp.
At that precise
moment, an underwater tremor deep
in the Pacific Ocean creates a powerful wave that will develop into a
tsunami aimed directly for a popular vacation destination once
protected by mighty mangroves.
Mickey Z. can be found on the Web at
http://www.mickeyz.net