Munchie machines and poverty

Hello my Good Ol' Three Faithful Readers.


One day I decided I needed some munchies to fuel my thinking furnace. Promptly, I made my way to the munchie machine located outside the office building and, for an agreeable amount of money, paid for a bag of chips on the top row of items. As my now paid munchies were making their way down, they got stuck. Bummer.


Forgotten traumas of old arcade-pinball in days of yore must have made me afraid of tilting the machine and losing my quarters; thus I shook the munchie machine gently. Alas, no go. My munchies were still stuck in there. So I shook the machine a little bit harder; they didn't bulge. It seemed as if by some unknown force the munchie machine was taking a zealous hold on my food in a kind of perverted man vs. machine tug o' war.


Like most of us civilized humans do when we become frustrated, I began shaking the munchie machine like a raving, maniac wild monkey on a mission. I would not be surprised if foam actually came out of my mouth. Finally, after the epic struggle, the munchies fell as I stood triumphant before that inert monolith. Following act I went to my office and ate them; I'm not sure why, but they were sweeter. The taste of victory.


But then I thought if I had ever wanted to behave like a wild monkey in the first place, I would not be living on a Northern Hemisphere country/state and would be living in a Southern country/state were people are blessed enough to have actual, real fruit trees on their backyards to which they can go and shake wildly at their leisure and food just falls at their feet. But no, I live in a civilized society up here north where what we do have are munchie machines to which you conveniently put hard-earned money in exchange for food.


Now, I sat to think about this ridiculous thought and figured that oddly, there is some truth to it. I have never quite put my finger on it but it somehow seems countries in the Northern Hemisphere are more "civilized" and "advanced" - if there is such a thing - than out Southern Hemisphere counterparts. I cannot speak for the whole world, but at least in my country it so happens that people from northern states are known for being more greedy than people from the south. Going on a hunch, I think it has to do with the fact that the north is more barren and arid; thus the first settlers had to bust their butts and fight with nail, tooth, blood and sweat for food and whatever wealth they could manage while people on the south had it easy just shaking trees when they felt like it.


Call me crazy, but actually the Southern Hemisphere is known for having more mild climates, forests and tropical paradises; and I do not claim to know much on economy, but they also seem to be poverty stricken countries; there's actually this concept called the North-South Divide to the point were these "uncivilized", southern countries become exotic and touristic attractions that must be exploited.


Now, I am not saying all people from the south are lazy bums expecting food to fall from above and that all people from the north are greedy sons-of-a-gun; surely there are greedy Southerners and lazy northerners. Actually I think there should be a way to end this "divide" and, thank The Powers that Be, there are some like The South Project. I hope the come to fruition so that eventually either we all can have fruit trees on our backyard or you can find munchie machines all over the world.


As for me, well, I am off to get some more munchies to feed my belly.