By Liam Hysjulien
While I had already begun writing a piece on the looming 2011 food crisis, in lieu of my birthday, I decided to shelve it for this month. Instead, I felt the words of Wendell Berry offered more on the subject of food, hope and the future than I could possibly say. I know heroes are supposed to have feet of clay, but few people inspire me more than this man. Enjoy.
“If we believed that the existence of the world is rooted in mystery and in sanctity, then we would have a different economy. It would still be an economy of use, necessarily, but it would be an economy also of return. The economy would have to accommodate the need to be worthy of the gifts we receive and use, and this would involve a return of propitiation, praise, gratitude, responsibility, good use, good care, and a proper regard for the unborn. What is most conspicuously absent from the industrial economy and industrial culture is this idea of return. Industrial humans relate themselves to the world and its creatures by fairly direct acts of violence. Mostly we take without asking, use without respect or gratitude, and give nothing in return.”
Wendell Berry, From The Agrarian Standard
Poetry: The Apple Tree
Prose: The Idea of Local Economy
As It Ought To Be 
In context of anti-abortionists, formulation like “regard for the unborn’ is problematic. Better “regard for future generations.”
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