"Mind if I sit on the end of this table?" I asked a pretty blond lady who
was delicately picking at her Whole Foods salad. She looked up at me a bit
startled, looked at the long empty table she was sitting at, alone, and
nodded. Each table could easily fit twelve people, yet each of them held a
party of one. Why are we all so afraid to share space? The woman smiled as I
sat on the far end of the table, on the opposite side by the window, a good
six feet away. As I clunked my purse down I laughed and commented on the
wall of brightly colored shopping bags she had barricaded around her, as if
she was hiding from the other shoppers. "You look like your hiding with all
those bags on the table", she answered with a smile, "well I like to keep
them close, you never know". I gave her a weak smile and sat down to eat my
food. You never know? You never know what? That a grocery thief could run
through at anytime and snatch your asparagus? Your sitting in the dining
area of Whole Foods for christ sake, this isn't exactly a war torn
territory. Are people always this paranoid now a days? Have we gotten to
that point where you worry that your groceries will be plundered by....I
have no idea what....before you can get them safely in your home? And
speaking of homes and food, I volunteered at the mission downtown today. The
rescue mission housed over 100 men and women who are part of a program,
funded privately and donated to regularly. The members of this program are
brought through a drug and alcohol abuse treatment plan for three months,
they are taught skills and work as cleaning attendants while they are there.
They also must attend church three times a day. Privately funded. Bible
belt. Three times a day.
But the whole point of this is to get back to groceries. I was working with
a group of university students from Ohio who were on an "alternative spring
break", where a large group will go do service projects in a city for a week
instead of say.... boozing in Florida. To each his own. So there was this
nice guy, Charlie, born and raised in Cleveland, who was telling me about
his week. It didn't shock me that he'd never been to Nashville, that he'd
never been out of the country and plans to go to Lebenon this summer; it
didn't shock me that he'd never line danced or volunteered before. What
shocked me was when he told me how "weird" asparagus was. Random comment I
thought. So I asked, "what's weird about asparagus? That it makes your pee
smell funny?" His eyes lit up, "It does?", my expression was a bit
perplexed, "ok so if not that, what's so weird about asparagus?", he replied
"its just that last night I had some for the first time. I'd never had any
before". "What?!?" My disbelief was astounding. "What do you mean? You've
never eaten asparagus? What else haven't you had?" I started rattling off
vegetables I would put in a daily diet and he shook his head to all of them
"Eggplant?" "No", "Squash?" "No", "Radish?" "No". Basically if it wasn't
part of an iceberg lettuce side salad or didn't come out of a fast food bag
or a microwavable meal, he had no idea what it was. This boy is technically
a man! He's 19. He goes to college! He's on a school trip! He can feed the
homeless but he can't feed himself. What the hell is wrong with our country?
So I'm my days reflections, I've decided that we should not take our
education, our food or our resources for granted. And that coming from
California, the land of perfect produce, I must understand how fortunate I
was growing up in the eden state of plenty. But also that there must be a
change if we want the nation to correct itself as far as health. Its
devastating.
But for today, Ill just try to handle myself, so with that, I crack open my
filtered water, stretch out at this enormous table (which has now become a
party of one) and get ready to indulge in a large salad, with a hearty side
of asparagus.
was delicately picking at her Whole Foods salad. She looked up at me a bit
startled, looked at the long empty table she was sitting at, alone, and
nodded. Each table could easily fit twelve people, yet each of them held a
party of one. Why are we all so afraid to share space? The woman smiled as I
sat on the far end of the table, on the opposite side by the window, a good
six feet away. As I clunked my purse down I laughed and commented on the
wall of brightly colored shopping bags she had barricaded around her, as if
she was hiding from the other shoppers. "You look like your hiding with all
those bags on the table", she answered with a smile, "well I like to keep
them close, you never know". I gave her a weak smile and sat down to eat my
food. You never know? You never know what? That a grocery thief could run
through at anytime and snatch your asparagus? Your sitting in the dining
area of Whole Foods for christ sake, this isn't exactly a war torn
territory. Are people always this paranoid now a days? Have we gotten to
that point where you worry that your groceries will be plundered by....I
have no idea what....before you can get them safely in your home? And
speaking of homes and food, I volunteered at the mission downtown today. The
rescue mission housed over 100 men and women who are part of a program,
funded privately and donated to regularly. The members of this program are
brought through a drug and alcohol abuse treatment plan for three months,
they are taught skills and work as cleaning attendants while they are there.
They also must attend church three times a day. Privately funded. Bible
belt. Three times a day.
But the whole point of this is to get back to groceries. I was working with
a group of university students from Ohio who were on an "alternative spring
break", where a large group will go do service projects in a city for a week
instead of say.... boozing in Florida. To each his own. So there was this
nice guy, Charlie, born and raised in Cleveland, who was telling me about
his week. It didn't shock me that he'd never been to Nashville, that he'd
never been out of the country and plans to go to Lebenon this summer; it
didn't shock me that he'd never line danced or volunteered before. What
shocked me was when he told me how "weird" asparagus was. Random comment I
thought. So I asked, "what's weird about asparagus? That it makes your pee
smell funny?" His eyes lit up, "It does?", my expression was a bit
perplexed, "ok so if not that, what's so weird about asparagus?", he replied
"its just that last night I had some for the first time. I'd never had any
before". "What?!?" My disbelief was astounding. "What do you mean? You've
never eaten asparagus? What else haven't you had?" I started rattling off
vegetables I would put in a daily diet and he shook his head to all of them
"Eggplant?" "No", "Squash?" "No", "Radish?" "No". Basically if it wasn't
part of an iceberg lettuce side salad or didn't come out of a fast food bag
or a microwavable meal, he had no idea what it was. This boy is technically
a man! He's 19. He goes to college! He's on a school trip! He can feed the
homeless but he can't feed himself. What the hell is wrong with our country?
So I'm my days reflections, I've decided that we should not take our
education, our food or our resources for granted. And that coming from
California, the land of perfect produce, I must understand how fortunate I
was growing up in the eden state of plenty. But also that there must be a
change if we want the nation to correct itself as far as health. Its
devastating.
But for today, Ill just try to handle myself, so with that, I crack open my
filtered water, stretch out at this enormous table (which has now become a
party of one) and get ready to indulge in a large salad, with a hearty side
of asparagus.
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