Abundance

In the last paragraph of ‘Human Rights & Development’, Peter Uvin suggests one of the simplest and most ethical choices we can make is to eat local, seasonal produce.

I remind myself of that on the days I long for broccoli. It’s one of the foods I miss most here in India; available in my locality for a few short weeks of winter. (Otherwise, it’s quite a long journey into Kolkata where everything is more readily available.)

But there’s something poetic to the scarcity when– like today– the first harvest of the season arrives in the markets. Back in America, broccoli was on an endless list of things I took for granted. Always available. Rarely celebrated. But here, its arrival makes me more attuned to and appreciative of the natural cycles of the earth.

It’s a reminder that abundance isn’t always about having everything, all the time. Sometimes, it’s about savoring what’s fleeting