What is it worth?

The Price of Rice

Once in a while I remember a situation from my missionary service in Liberia. It was April 12, 1979. The Liberian government had announced the day before that the price for a 100-pound bag of rice would go up one dollar. It was like one of us saying to our cat, “Kitty don’t get on the couch.” Cats hear nouns. They ignore commands.

The people of Liberia, upon hearing the words, “Go up,” went into the streets and began protesting. The price increase might as well have been a hundred dollars. One cent would have caused the same reaction. Anger took them hostage and they became one large, violent mob.

When it was all over every store in the country had been looted and destroyed. The mob’s message was, “Don’t mess with the price of rice.” The government got the message, but the merchants paid the price.

Another thought soon came to mind. “How much would an American’s bag of rice need to go up before he would raise a hand in anger and shout, ‘Enough! We will not tolerate any more.’”

How many more American factories moving offshore will it take for the American people to rise up in protest? How much will the price of gasoline have to go up before we protest? How much of China’s lead-laced goods will we allow into this country? How much I ask?

Rice is the staple food of the Liberian people. The majority of them can’t afford a whole bag, a cup was all they could get. Rice is the most important commodity to them. Messing with the price was tantamount to a home invasion.

What is our bag of rice, and how much is it worth? Freedom was once our most prideful possession. Many words have been written extolling the merits of freedom and how proud Americans were to have it. How dare us to be so willing to send our young people to foreign lands to fight for it, and to die for it. We have become comfortable cowards here in America, unwilling to stand up to the liberal lizards in power that have sold us out to the global community, whose goal is to dominate us.

It has already happened. And we laughed at Russia when they claimed America would fall without a shot being fired. I didn’t hear it, did you?