In my latest Huffington Post piece, I mentioned a statistic that merits more than a passing nod:

In 2008, nearly 50 million people in this country (including 16 million children) lived in food-insecure households.

Go ahead. Take a moment to fully grasp that figure. (And while you’re at it give some thought to what you’ve had the privilege of putting in your belly today.) Fifty million people translates to one out of every six of our neighbors. What does that tell us about our priorities as a nation?

Now juxtapose that stat with the news that 40 of America’s richest citizens have pledged to donate at least half of their wealth to charity.

A noble act, to be sure—especially since pack leaders Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates are trying to rally others of the nation’s billionaires to the cause. But, as Robert Reich aptly points out, the “half” pledge is also a disturbing reminder of just how much money lies in so few hands. In an era where the average executive makes 300 to 500 times the average worker, the gap between this country’s haves and have-nots is expanding at an alarming rate.

So far, the 40 richest have pledged $125 billion. When the conversation shifts to dollar amounts containing that many zeros, it’s easy to feel pretty detached pretty quickly. But consider the Salwen family, whose book The Power of Half: One Family's Decision to Stop Taking and Start G... recounts their choice to sell their Atlanta mansion, downsize to a smaller house, and give half of the profits to a worthy charity. Okay, words like ‘mansion’ still make it easy to think that kind of giving is only for rich people. And maybe it is.

Or maybe we could, all of us, put a little thought into what comforts and/or luxuries we’d be willing to sacrifice so that our neighbors might have the basics, like food on the table. As Hannah Salwen, the high school junior who convinced her family to sell their house, told the NYT:

“Everyone has too much of something, whether it’s time, talent, or treasure. Everyone does have their own half, you just have to find it.”

Cross-posted on my blog.