Airbrushing the Countryside

"Airbrushing the Countryside" is a description that Bell uses to describe what some people living in suburban and urban areas do when thinking about the rural way of life. Most people, even those familiar with farming, don't realize the hardships that people in the countryside face.

We eat fruits, vegetables, and meat on a daily basis, yet we seldom think about how they got in our pantries and on our plates. In Bell's chapter titled "A Rural Autopsy", he works to show what life is truly like in rural places across the world rather than "airbrushing the countryside".

I  often hear people talk about there being more drugs and drug related murders in the city. Therefore, a shocking fact that I read in the book "Stuffed and Starved" is as follows:

"In the US, more drug-related killings happen in rural America than in it's cities"

Not only are murders an issue, but suicides of farmers are very prevalent as discussed in the introduction of "Stuffed and Starved". In India, as well as the rest of the world, suicides are common in rural areas due to the struggles that farmers face financially. Purposeful pesticide poisoning was the first leading cause of death in Sri Lankan hospitals that were located in rural areas. These problems also occurred in the U.S. It is just very sad to me that men across the world are feeling so helpless, guilty, and worthless, that they are willing to take their own life because they can't support their own family.

"In the US, during the 1980's farm crisis, the Midwest suffered a spate of suicides."

While we are sitting around the dinner table eating delicious food that is easily accessed, a large number of farmers around the world are feeling so guilty that they aren't able to provide for their families, that they kill themselves. We are not at fault for their suffering, but shouldn't we still feel a little guilty?

Rural areas in America continue to become more and more poor. I hate to keep quoting directly from the book, but the statistics found in it regarding this topic are shocking.

" In 2003, only eleven of the two hundred poorest counties in the US were metropolitan, and while drug related homicide rate fell in urban areas in the 1990's, it tripled in rural areas."

These facts are so shocking, because I am so used to hearing more "airbrushed" talk about rural areas. I, like many others have been blind to the harsh reality.

After only the 2nd chapter of this book, I feel guilty for many things.

1. We waste food when so much work has gone into producing it.
2. Farmers in some places make only fifty cents for their long hard day at work.
3. We take produce, meat, and dairy products for granted.
4. There are people around the world committing suicide because they can't support their families, and we are worrying about much smaller, petty problems in our own lives.



Lindsay