November 12, 2018

Sonata (for Apples in C# Minor)

“If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with them. The people who give you their food—give you their heart.”    Cesar Chavez, Co-founder United Farm Workers Union

“This isn’t just about cooking and eating. It’s about culture and politics. If people everywhere could just understand one another a little bit better, sit down over a meal together, you could solve a lot of problems.”         —Ben Rhodes, Former Deputy National Security Advisor to Barak Obama




In a couple of weeks we will be sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner. As kids we attended these gatherings with an air of anticipation and dread. There was the plump shiny turkey to be devoured along with more food than we could comprehend, but there was also “Uncle Billie” with his inappropriate jokes, crazy worldview, and unbearable aftershave.

But we were “breaking bread”—sitting down with friends, relatives, and sometimes unexpected quests who came from diverse backgrounds and held thoughts and opinions that we found untenable. Our task was to listen without passing judgment—sometimes harder to do than walk on hot coals.

So Happy Thanksgiving—share those yams and drumsticks, practice tolerance with Uncle Billie, and give some time to those less fortunate…As J.R.R. Tolkien said, “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”