You never truly appreciate something until you’ve had to live without it. And if you simply can’t live without it, it must deserve a lot of appreciation. Two summers ago I went without. I can’t exactly say what I went without, because I went without just about everything. But I still had so much. I talked to a man who had nothing, and he marveled at my extravagance. Me, the street performer who ate peanut butter and jelly for lunch and washed it down with water from the drinking fountain. Me, the boy who took a 45-minute walk because it was cheaper than the bus, and the bus wasn’t that much faster.

And there are others in this world who would marvel at even less. To us meat comes from the grocery store, just the way God intended. We think only hicks and barbarians kill animals. It’s so cruel and mean. We’re so sophisticated with our chain of supply and demand that removes the consumer from the consumed by 700 miles and an air conditioned semi-truck driven by a guy named Pat who stops at a truck stop in Iowa to relieve himself.