January 14, 2007

• On Fast Food

  The key scene in the movie The Weatherman(not to be confused with Anchorman with Will Ferrell) was when Dave Spritz realized, “I’m fast food”. Fast food tastes good, but isn’t all that nutritious and is cheap and easily disposed of. This was, Dave realized, why he was always getting hit by fast food items. A burrito. A Big Gulp. A Frosty. Only fast food. This was the common denominator within his existence.

  So my question is this; Are you fast food? If I had to posit an opposite to fast food, I suppose a home-cooked meal would be it. Are you a home-cooked meal? Is it easy to tell one from the other

  Now it’s pretty easy to tell fast-food people from home-cooked people. Just wait for some real adversity to arrive and those with substance will stand right by your side. When you’re there weathering the storm of your life, those home-cooked friends will be right there with you. The fast-food people? The fast-food friends? If a storm is brewing and dark clouds begin to appear on the horizon, they’ll high-tail it out of there with barely a “Sorry gotta go!” Adversity is when you know your friends. Choose wisely. I give you a metaphor. Think of your circle of friends as your ship while at sea. A strong group of friends will be like a well-handled ship of the line. A group of fast-food friends will be little stronger than a coastal barque. One will hold steady through the fiercest of gale-force winds. The other will burst apart beneath your feet.

  So what comprises a fast-food person? Weakness of will? Perhaps it should not be their shame if they are not naturally able to handle the attrition of day to day life. They know their limits, know when they will break, and do not wish to lose face in front of a friend who counted upon them in their time of need. Who are we to judge? Perhaps the label should be placed upon the foreheads of those who have the strength to stand by your side, but choose not to for their own reasons. Could they be afraid of the emotional cost to them should they try and weather the storm with you? Who knows such things. Is it a fault of theirs that they even calculate the costs of such a decision, if decision it should ever be? Should not a true friend act on their loved-ones behalf without thought of what could happen to themselves. Should they not cry, “I sail with you!” the first moment they learn of the impending storm? Think well of Aragorn. “I would have gone with you to the end.” Aragorn was no fast-food individual. Does it take the nobility of such a character to be a home-cooked person. I do not believe it takes nobility to act nobly, but I do think it takes character to be truly noble.

  Character is what makes a home-cooked meal so valued. There is life in the spaghetti sauce made by our mothers. There is virtue in the pork ribs cooked by our fathers. There is strength when such meals are eaten with family and friends. Look around you this coming week and you will find life in your friends. You will find virtue within those you love. You will find strength insurmountable ready to give you the embrace you need after a hard days work. Most importantly though, open your eyes to those around you and be willing to see weakness. Weakness does not make one fast-food. Vulnerability does not make one fast-food. We all have weakness. We are all vulnerable at many points in life. Those who are home-cooked will provide us with nourishment when weak, and will protect us when vulnerable. They will replenish our resources so that we are ready to face another day in this world. Most important to remember when seeing their weakness, seeing them when vulnerable, is that they will need you.

  Such is the meaning of life. Not just to count on, but also willing to stand and be counted upon. Not just to look for strength, but to be willing to admit the humanity in those around you. I suggest something to you. Find a park bench somewhere(The weather is crazy, this can be done before Spring) and just observe the individuals who walk by. Observe as if you are Sherlock Holmes and have but moments to figure out who they are. No longer think in terms of ‘fast-food’ or ‘home-cooked’. Merely look and see what burdens they carry with them. Perhaps that girl wearing the high-collared red sweater is in the midst of a storm involving her biology class professor. Perhaps that kid with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles t-shirt is in the midst of a storm involving the ridicule of the other kids at school. Perhaps that man in the business suit is in the midst of a storm involving a divorce settlement with his wife. What of the elderly woman, grappling with the knowledge that she is in the twilight of her years and soon is destined to dance with the reaper? Can she find comfort before being ferried across the river Styx?

  Be willing to observe people, and you will find yourself observing storms. Reject them, or think of them and their storms only in terms of how it will affect you(as Dave Spritz did), and be thought of as coldly as fast-food. Be willing to understand those individuals, those storms, and you will find yourself being thought of as warmly as is a home-cooked meal.

  • 10:20 pm
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