Mush, Food, and Dignity

Some of you may not be familiar with this food, mush, and fewer have probably ever eaten it. It is cornmeal, mixed with water or milk with a pinch of salt. It is usually served as sliced and fried. It was a staple in the Dust Bowl days, and the Great Depression. In working class America, it appeared on tables usually for dinner (supper in working class language). It lay on a plate greasy with syrup poured on top. I hated it! It didn’t take me long to figure out that when it was served up, it was a barometer for the rate of the flow of money in my household.  I wonder if my good friend, Dr. John Crosby, had it as a bill of fare at his family table during his Dust Bowl days. It didn’t prevent him from being a great leader as the Superintendent of the Radnor School District. We have never talked about the food issue, but food or lack thereof can inform life’s direction with a goal of success.

It isn’t a given as many people in our nation and world don’t know what and when they will eat again. Our political representatives and President have not been able to perform one of the few requirements that they have, keep our nation safe and feeling secure. There are many ways to motivate a nation to achieve, but not having enough food is not one of them. It only makes you hungry and mad. It is not helpful to see pictures of our President partying on Halloween with opulence galore and dancing girls scantily clothed recalling life of the Great Gatsby as the theme for the evening. There are different ways to proclaim, “Let them eat cake!” referring to the masses by the French monarch. Trump told us who he was. We didn’t believe him. I don’t know how you have a negative poll number, but a recent poll of the under thirties shows that he is -45%. We saw how people viewed his administration with the Democrats offering a referendum.

Although lack of food should never be a motivator, we know that it is remembered and not forgotten because it is a physical thing that makes it visceral. You forget how people demeaned you with words, but you never forget how the actions of others made you feel. It certainly affected me. I can watch commercials on TV that are about terrible things, but I must turn away if I see St. Jude’s Hospital for Children’s request for funds showing children with cancer, impoverished children who are hungry in Gaza and other parts of the world, or when dogs are shown by agencies that show starving abused dogs as the reason for giving.

At a dinner  last evening, I told my wife, Vicki, how all this hunger that surrounds us elicited feelings for me.  When my father was on disability with 60% of his normal low pay, there were days that I saw mush as our staple. I was involved in athletics and using weights for fitness and muscle, so I had to eat to compete. My brother and I never said a word about food as we knew what was going on. Most weeks we didn’t have mush, but on some weeks we did. My mother being one of the worst cooks of all time fried the mush in Crisco and served it with syrup on top. It floated in a liquid of syrup and grease. Mush was a barometer of income or lack thereof.

The neighborhood in which I grew up was a Polish part of town. My neighbors had names such as Smondrowski, Deleva, and such. It is ironic that my immediate neighbors were the Mushlanka family whose son’s nickname was Mushy. He got that nickname because he was one of the best boxers who turned others’ faces to mush. He had a boxing facility in his garage and introduced me to that brutal sport. His lessons made me feel less vulnerable!

Vulnerable was a word that describes the feelings of the people who are without food today. It is one of the emotions that people fear along with rejection and embarrassment. We do anything to avoid those three feelings. People who have food don’t worry as much about vulnerability compared to those today who are without that staple of life. When you can’t provide for your family that produces shame and embarrassment as well. A sense of rejection is clear. So, the hungry can’t avoid the three emotions that we do anything to avoid adding insult to injury.

When I was Chaplain at EA, we ran a very successful can drive before Thanksgiving. It was the result for the most part of students’ actions. In fact, it was a student on the student leadership group called the Vestry who came up with the idea to involve two other independent schools who were close by. The students loaded all the cans onto an eighteen-wheeler truck and took it into the city for many years to a distribution center for those in need.

We had several people from outside of our school community speak about hunger in chapel addresses. We all learned something. Hunger is found to a great degree in the suburbs, so we began sharing food there to designated places. One speaker talked about his food ministry in the city which provided a whole new perspective. His agency feeds the homeless with fresh fruits and vegetables as part of their meal. Why? Because access to food equals dignity.

Ghandi said that “God himself dare not appear to a hungry person except in the form of bread.” It suggests that spiritual and human needs are interconnected. Fulfilling these fundamental physical needs of humanity is a spiritual act in and of itself.

Below is a video of Trump’s Halloween party on the eve when people will go hungry. He initially refused to provide funding as recently as yesterday, but Republicans overrode him. Obviously, he doesn’t care anymore about getting elected, but Republicans do so they partially funded it.

Such a grand gesture from those who have so much! But this will tell you a lot about me. I would tell them to just stuff it. Not interested. I’d rather eat mush! My mother was right about one of my characteristics. I won’t take a knee for anyone. She called me bullheaded more times than I could count!

Trump's Halloween Party