I am on a clear liquid diet today in preparation for that wonderful procedure that doctors like to require for people over 50. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, your time is coming.
I am just over 3 hours into this diet and I’m already tired of it. Just a few crumbs wouldn’t hurt, right? Most days my breakfast consists of a granola bar and maybe a small container of yogurt, but both of those are at the top of the “no-no” list. I was even hoping to sleep as late as possible today to shorten the diet hours, but I woke up at 6:30. Oh, well … this, too, shall pass. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
While I’m dreaming of crumbs, I’m reminded of an encounter a few days ago with a woman in Zhytomyr, Ukraine. We were checking out of our hotel after 3 nights there and preparing to load the buses for the next host city. As I approached, I saw a group of about 6 of our guys gathered around an elderly woman who was engaged in an animated monologue.
One of our group is native Ukrainian, so he was translating. Truly enjoying having an audience, she told us how she had spent many of her 80 years as a waitress because she loves people and loves conversing with travelers.
Because our group, the Singing Men of Texas is a large choir, she was delighted to tell us about her cousin who is a renowned choir director. He is much more recognized in Poland, though he is native to Ukraine. During the Soviet era, the USSR did not acknowledge him because he did no dedicate his art to the motherland. His father had come home destitute after serving in World War 2. For reasons that got lost in translation, he was set up by government officials. He was given leftovers from a bakery and then was arrested for stealing bread.
He went to prison for seven years for a few crumbs. Is it any wonder that his son might have some issues with the motherland?
The consequences of a few crumbs in this story bear little resemblance to the consequences of a few crumbs for me today. What I’m thinking about right now is the cost of a few crumbs to the one who already has the loaf.
In many ways, I live in the land of loaves. I have more than I need and much of what I want. I have no intention of feeling guilty about that and neither should my fellow loaf-landers.
But the marginalized of our society are often living on crumbs. It is not up to us to determine fault, but to be compassionate and to manage our loaves well for the benefit of others as well as our own. Much going on in our country right now should remind us of the importance of community. Click To Tweet
How might your crumbs be used to build that?
