St. Francis Xavier

January 31, 2010

Do you ever wonder where the bread goes once it has been removed from the grocery store? When the expiration date has arrived or is no longer “fresh” because it wasn’t made that day. My assigned task today was to slice bread and bagels and butter them in an assembly-like form in a soup kitchen. It’s about 17 degrees outside and I can’t help to think who will eat this bread once it’s buttered. Bread came in all forms, including one with the bottom that resembled the skin of an adult elephant perhaps its’ knee, and even tougher yet to slice through. I wonder, how much butter would I like on my bread if I were on the receiving end? Why is there no option for a plain roll or how much more expensive can it be to offer cream cheese instead. My assembly line partner that stands in front of me becomes more of a mechanical participant as we are overtaken by the repetitive actions of cutting, buttering and the drone flapping sound of two slices coming together. Occasionally, I look up to see less fortunate people sifting through the organized piles of free clothing and I wonder why I feel disgruntled when the bins at the stores I buy clothes are in disarray. We sometimes forget that we have choices and even when it seems there is no choice you can still make a decision. To eat the buttered bread or not, to volunteer or not, there is a choice. It is not a matter of feeling more fortunate because someone else may be less fortunate, it is not a matter of pity or sorrow. It is a call to action to set aside time from a daily routine, to disrupt it every once in a while for the sake of being a pebble to disturb the pond and have a ripple effect . It is an effect that begins with a slice of buttered bread and ends with the temporary satisfaction of someone else’s hunger so they can carry out their own daily routine and hopefully produce an effect of their own.