Our Basic Need - Food Essay Example

Have you ever shared a common bond so strong that your life depended on it?  If so, you're a lot like the Baker’s Band.  Every day, hundreds upon thousands of homeless children under the Bolshevik’s Russian government struggled for survival.  Would they get enough food, who would care for them when they were sick, who should they trust?  These were questions that were all too familiar to the children of Russia during the 1920’s.

We often hear children exaggerating how hungry they are by saying, “I’m starving” after skipping a meal or maybe not being able to receive a snack, but I’m sure that's as distant as it gets for most people in Canada.  However, this story was completely different for the millions of children in the 1920’s who were faced with the challenge of finding food everyday.  During this time food was scarce, small businesses were shut down, and their families were taken away.  Consequently, Peter and his band of homeless children scavenged the streets of Moscow in search for food and stole in order to provide for each other, sometimes only getting one loaf of bread to divide among the 13 children.  Often going days without food, these children would have to battle for survival.

In Canada, illnesses and injuries can easily be cured with our outstanding health care system and pharmacies; however, a sickness for the children of Russia would often be fatal.  “‘Doctor!’ she laughed, and opened the door.  Even the waifs who had been paying not much attention to the furor in the corner snickered at that.”  This goes to show that if you were unfortunate enough to become sick or injured, even the thought of a doctor would be out of the question for these boys. Their only hope for improving would be to steal from medicinal shops in order to get the necessities they needed to cure a cold.  However, due to the common bond that they shared, the boys always had each others backs.

Have you ever felt lonely, afraid, scared?  It is extremely difficult to overcome these emotions by yourself.  So who was by your side to aid you through these difficult times?  For these  boys and girls in Moscow, they heavily relied on each others support each day in order to surpass the lonesome thought of losing their families.  They knew that they were there for each other and that they would never leave each other’s side.  Two examples of sticking by their friend’s side in the novel are portrayed when one boy had been hit with a leather bludgeon, and even though that they were assured he would die, they were there to comfort him.  When one boy would become sick, they would be there to tend his illnesses.  The state that Russia was in at the time consequently left these children depending on each other for the help that they needed in order to fulfill the common bond of companionship.

We are often caught guilty of taking our basic necessities like water to drink, food on the table, a warm bed to sleep in, a safe country to live in, and friends and family for granted.  On the contrary, many children in Russia at the time were left homeless, afraid, hungry, sick, and alone with non other than each other to care for them.  These common bonds that they all shared brought forward both challenges and companionship for the children in Peter’s band. However, together they endured these hardships by uniting together as one strong family.