ROME -- Imagine for a moment the thousands of proud athletes from around the world that paraded through the Olympic Stadium in Athens during the spectacular opening ceremony last week. Now, imagine this: In the next 12 hours, hunger and malnutrition will take the lives of more men, women and children than all of those sportsmen and women who gathered in Athens to compete in the world's oldest, most prestigious sporting event.
Every five seconds, every day, a child dies of hunger and malnutrition. That is 18,000 children a day, more than 6 million a year. The shocking thing about hunger is that all this may come as a surprise. In the 21st century, hunger has become so mundane, so pervasive, and so ever present, that we seem to have grown almost immune to its devastating toll.
Perhaps we are not ready to recognize the scandal of hunger and malnutrition in a world where we already produce more than enough food to feed every human being on the planet. Perhaps we think there are greater threats out there. Much has been said about the clear and present danger from weapons of mass destruction.