Monday, August 4, 2008

the food of the gods


There is no need for me to say this but i am going to anyway; I love chocolate.

I was born loving chocolate, and i will die loving chocolate. Right now I'm having a really hard time because i am on a no chocolate diet , need i say more, i know you all feel my pain.


Chocolate is one of the pleasures of life. For those of us who eat and enjoy it, it is always a good thing. But for many others chocolate , is a nightmare. In many ways its like life itself, on the outside we all appear to be very happy normal people. But really, we all depressed, stressed, and even if we are not fully aware of it, wishing that things were better, that the world was not such an ugly place, or we just totally ignore all the suckey stuff, like I do sometimes.



"The food of the gods" is our favorite flavor and one of the most popular thingies to give away on holidays that now mean nothing more to us, than days when we dont have to work or go to school, Easter, Valentines Day, Christmas, bla bla bla, the list goes on. It's even promoted as healthy, dark chocolate that is. Its good hot, its good cold, it is "the love chemical"makes you feel all chocolately, if you know what i mean. They say eating good chocolate is like havin an orgasm or a good laugh.



it may seem that there is nothing evil or sinister about chocolate, there is no dark movie music playing in the back ground in chocolate factories. But do we really know where Willy Wonka and those creepy, yet some how strangely adorable Oompa-Loompas, get there coco beens from. Well my chocolate loving friends, the answer to this question, is what is wrong with chocolate.



Young women, young men and children at this very moment are toiling under a punishing sun in West Africa picking cocoa beans for Starbucks, Hershies, M&M's and other transnational conglumerates. In other words for my and your favorite chocolate companies. As strange as this may sound, those Oompa-Loompas are dancing to scary movie music, there is a shamefull link between that heavenly candy and unbelievable cruelty. But dont take my word for it learn about it the same way I did from respectable news organizations like the BBC.

One of the greatest advancements and the greatest tragedies of all times is capitalisms, or should I say the implementation of capitalism. This has been the reason for the suffering of many humans beings at the hands of his brothers. The problem is that these companies only care about the bottom line (el billete, money, argent, denaro). Now don't get me wrong I have nothing against private enterprise, but cruelty isn't a necessary part of making money, sadly though, in our capitalist world this has become the norm. We are definitely living in a more modernized less civilized world.

Many of us take pride in the fact that we hold a Starbucks coffee cup, or a collectors item box of Hershies kisses, paying exorbitant prices for these first class products. Ignoring the fact, or ignorant to it (which ever may be the case) that they come to us via slavery.

I don't blame you, after all, we are all allowed our own little pleasures, why should we always spoil them by thinking in the horrors that made them possible? Well the truth is that I write this not to tell anyone that they should stop buying bran name chocolate or drink bran name coffee. I would never impose on anyone's pleasures. I merely want you to be aware of these tragedies and if you know already, well here's a reminder. I hope though, that the next time that you take a bite or a sip that you think about all the pain and misery that it took to bring you that bar, that box, that cup, of highly processed yet delicious moment of pleasure. That those exploited men, women and children, are in your prayers (at least ounce). That you are aware that even the most delicious bite of chocolate just might have someone's blood on it.



Bye now
and have a tasty day.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

sure is a sad state of affairs

help said...

Makes you think dont it...

RepairingDamage said...

what is truly sad is after we have read this we can walk away feeling guilty for about 5 minutes..thinking "what a sad state of affairs..but nothing i can do about"..Never accepting that in that moment the decision we make can ber life-altering once we TAKE RESPONSIBILITY..for our own actions..wach one can change the world..by just deciding to try..even in some remote corner of teh world//our actions like the ripples of waves..spread and influence...Change is US...

Anonymous said...

True that!! Amen...

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