Perspective

As I haphazardly moved a hunk of dry, rubbery chicken from one side of my plate to the other, I commented on the lack of quality food available in the cafeteria. Every day I play the “lunchroom lottery”, cringing as I scan my ID, grab a plate, and peruse the options.

Tater Tots®? I’m wary of foods that need to be copyrighted.

Chicken…I think. You may want to think twice if the word meat is surrounded with quotation marks.

The fish looks dry, as usual.

All the bananas are brown.

Meatballs! Wait, never mind.

I’m pretty sure those eggs aren’t real.

Often I abandon the cafeteria in mild disgust and turn to the salad bar with hesitant optimism.

Only iceberg lettuce today. *cue sarcasm* Hey, I have a great idea. Let’s take lettuce, suck out all the nutrients, chop it up, and call it a vegetable *end sarcasm*. 

I stare down at my plate of tomato slices from the sandwich line, a piece of toast, and a pile of baby carrots. I look around me and see a few dozen students picking at their plates with mild to severe disapproval. Hastily I say grace and start on the carrots.

Suddenly I glance at my plate again. I remember the words I just recited mechanically, as if they were meaningless: bless us and these your gifts which we receive from your bountiful goodness. When I hear the word “bounty” I think of a basket of produce from the garden, a bag of groceries, a table overflowing with potluck dishes. I glance at the salad bar, its metal bowls literally overflowing with vegetables. I look at the cafeteria lines, the pans of food being refilled as quickly as they are used up. I think back to the last time I was hungry. I think about what it means to be really hungry, not just un-full.

Now I see everything with a fresh perspective. I see the hands that serve the food but also the unseen hands that prepared it, purchased it, grew it, and planted it. I think of those who spend more time hungry than not.

Surrounded by a bounty of food, I wonder why I could not see it this way before. 

Sometimes you just need perspective. 

picture by Cacia Scheler