We All Need to Eat
Continued from Blog Humility: Humble Pie or Tested Torte 2
To share in a meal is to partake in something life-giving. Whether rich or poor, powerful or pitiful, we all need to eat – it is the world’s most fundamental equalizer. Our most basic need is a greatest need. And to sit at a table puts us pretty much at the same level whether tall or short – we sit beside each other or across from one another at heart level. No one stands over another.
And we can’t eat without cooperation, organization, planning, preparation and resources. There is a lot involved with coming together to share a meal.
When my mother was in her prime, working part-time as a nurse and in charge of an active household that included a husband, children and parents all living in the same small bungalow, she would often be heard wishing for a meal pill. If we could just take a pill exhaustion from preparing meals seven days a week would disappear.
As a child I recognized her exasperation but felt helpless to do anything. I did not know how to cook. But it was already clear to me that feeding people was a seemingly relentless and thankless task. Now as an adult with my own family I get where my mother was coming from. There are times when I also wish for a meal pill.
Unnecessary Heart-Time
But to simply replace eating together by popping a pill…well, I suppose it would give us more time for other things. I am sure my mother thought it would give her more time to rest her feet after a long day on a hospital ward. To remove the heart-to-heart meal time exchanges would certainly add time to a day to press our advantage elsewhere.
We could protect our jobs by being more competitive; working longer hours would make us indispensable and better than the rest. We would not be so fussed about getting stuck in rush hour traffic as a pill would be the only supper time prep. Or there would be more time to shop – designer fashions, cars, electronics or stuff to beautify our homes would enhance our image with friends and acquaintances. More time equals more things – just popping a meal pill when shopping in the mall would save all kinds of unnecessary heart-time at the food court.
No need to grocery shop either, we could just order meal pills on-line. Eating as a social activity would become more virtual, similar to our social media communications. We wouldn’t actually need to get together with anyone to post a picture on Instagram of the fabulous restaurant meal we enjoyed with friends. We could simply post a pic of the meal pill without the extraneous effort of actually assembling and having to talk face-to-face.
The Need to Eat – More Powerful Than Any Device of Competition or War
I think my mother’s idea was ingenious and well before her time. Certainly there is a lot of appeal to doing away with the work associated with gathering to eat. But thank God we haven’t entirely de-evolved and driven off that cliff.
To return to a place of assembly where we gather again and again is an opportunity for daily grounding. We can meet others as equals in need of sustenance. At the meal table there is a chance to do away with hierarchy and power struggles. For a while it is a place where we can drop ego-centered thinking and put aside those law-of-the-jungle drivers that propel us through the rest of the day.
Saint Teresa understood this when she gathered the suffering in her arms and nourished their bodies and souls – the strength of a humble nature more powerful than any device of competition or war.
To be continued (refer next post).
Is the need to eat a fundamental equalizer? What goodness have you experienced in such gatherings?
Holy Communion is, of course, the ultimate equalizer. I am always moved when I serve this holy meal as I remember that for more than two thousand years this bread and this wine have been shared by all manner of people no matter their race, ethnicity, age, status etc.