Free lunches are an issue near and dear to my heart. As a student who relied on free and reduced-price lunches growing up, I remember my mother’s excitement that I could rely on this program. Times were tough for my family. The problems so many of us face, though none of us expect or hope for, hit my family hard. Illness, foreclosure and a feeling of insecurity hung over my childhood. We relied on our WIC checks and visits to food pantries to economize and keep ourselves going. So, when my mother knew feeding me would not be an issue, both she and I could rest easy – not because we were lazy and not because we irresponsibly drew upon this service, but because we truly needed the help.

Many other children rely on this help, as well. An empty stomach and the wonder where food would come from next can only hurt a child. For parents who can not afford food, such thoughts are haunting.

Also haunting is sitting in the lunchroom, alongside other children who are eating, with nothing in front of you. Children are more than willing to call out each other for differences, abnormalities and odd behavior. A child also knows when they are the one that sticks out. It is too easy to dismiss stigmatization of the abnormal child. The idea that it does not exist is simply untrue. Either that, or everything I lived and know is a lie, and this is not something someone forgets.

So, when I hear then that some people would even think of protesting free lunches at a taxpayer’s expense, I will not stand idly by. There is no future for America without students. They will go on to be the businessman, the plumber, the poet or the teacher. These children must learn to achieve and become productive members of society. If the cost is making sure that they get their lunch, I’d pay twice that amount to know their brain is not shacked to their stomach. It is easy for the adult to believe it is the parents’ fault for refusing to pack a lunch or letting their child down and failing as a parent who should provide for them. It is the argument of a person who has never lived hunger, has forgotten hunger or could enjoy even the briefest luxury of being able to support their child. It is a masochistic argument that the children who will one day carry our country on their backs do not deserve even the smallest break.

Based on need, we need to provide. Our society thrives on a good public education. If one empty stomach holds any student back, if it distracts them from one moment of learning, it is a damning reflection of everyone in our community. I believe not a dollar here is wasted, and for the child, it can mean they can learn truly free.

Photo from Pixabay