For the many, or the few?

The pursuit of edible lunch, article in the Baltimore Sun from 1/19/2008, writes about the campaign by 6 middle school students to have better school lunch options available to their school and 56 other schools in Baltimore.

Reading about the quality of school lunches around the country smacks me up against my almost-daily dilemma: do I agitate for better lunches for all, or focus on making my kids' food as healthy as possible by preparing bagged lunches for them? Okay, my kids aren't even in school yet. But another debate raging in my home school district about shifting the boundaries for elementary schools has brought the concern to the forefront for me, and, I'm sure, for many others. How do we balance doing what is best for all with what we feel is best for our kids? How do we wear two hats; advocating for the good of those who perhaps don't have a strong advocate in their own home while balancing our strong--even biologically undeniable--drive to get the best for our own offspring?

I know, I know that there are those who will insist that by acting for the greater good we are doing what's best for our children; that they will grow up in a world that values everyone, that the grand karmic circle will continue to cycle around and all the good that we have sown will be reaped for them. I know you might be thinking this, and in many ways I do believe it. And yet, I can't bring myself to support something that isn't in their best interests. As I mentioned before, my babies are babies still; but I know that if these school boundary talks happen 5 years from now, you may be able to convince me that it's for the best, but you damn sure won't be able to stop me from insisting, as vocally and as often as necessary, that MY children should be the exceptions.