that time i fought back and won

Do you remember that show Fight Back with David Horowitz?

I think I was 10 or 11 years old and at the time a gigantic fan of shrimp Cup of Noodles. When I was allowed to have it I would lovingly prepare the water, steep the noodles, and wait impatiently for those three long minutes. Then I'd carefully eat the noodles and leave all the shrimp till the end, a sort of last course hurrah. But one day there was no shrimp in my shrimp cup, and the dismay, Oh The Dismay.

So my father, a consumer advocate and writer of letters encouraged me to write the cup of noodle people and let them know. I sent the letter off, wounds still raw and still unable to believe there is a world where shrimp flavored noodles arrive in your home without any shrimp. A few weeks later to my undeniable joy I received a huge box from the good people at CON. Inside was every product imagineable. Boxes of shrimp noodles. Boxes! And other flavors! Wonton soup! I didn't even know what that was! I hoarded that huge box, it lived in my closet and every so often I'd pull out a treat and lovingly caress each package, thoughtful in my decision of which to sacrifice, conscious that the box was slowly emptying. My younger brother would beg and plead and I'd eventually give him one or two packages, the vegetable flavor of course.

My father then suggested writing another letter, this time to David. So I wrote Dave a letter complete with purple flowers and mailed it off. A little while later we got a phone call. David Had Seen My Letter! I Had Fought Back And Won!

They aired the segment one ordinary weekday night, long before common folk had VCRs. My family crowded round the set, a scene right out of the 50's, mom and dad on the couch, the children getting radiation poison right up close. They showed my letter, purple flowers and all. They read my name and told my story, boxes of noodles filling the screen. And then David said the magic words: Jenny Talia Fought Back And Won!

Oh, The Fame!

The next day at school a classmate came up to me and said she saw my letter on TV. I remember being so proud. So proud. My words made something change. Pen and paper. It mattered. And I learned from the small but important lesson: our words matter. We can change things for the better by speaking up. So I've kept writing, sometimes successfully and other times not. But I learned we have a voice. A say in the matter. We can Fight Back. Noodles or Women's Rights or World Peace - we can stake our claim and have our voice heard.