This is a re-post from the original post I had on my other blog. I thought it would fit on this side as well and there are different followers of this post as well. Forgive me for any duplication on the part of those that follow my other blog.
We have 8 days till we leave for Africa. (Today we now are on our last day here in the US. Leaving at 9am for the airport tomorrow.) It's not quite registering yet but the fact still remains we are leaving. We have our bags packed, we're ready to go, we're standing here, outside the door of the restaurant ( you thought Peter, Paul and Mary, right?) feeling really bloated.
Why do we do that?
Why do we go out to eat and stuff ourselves?
Is there some unwritten rule that says we have to eat everything that is set in front of us? I mean every last morsel of food on the plate?
Growing up, my mother harped at me to eat everything on my plate because of the starving children over seas. It didn't make sense to me that mother would make me eat all the food when she could send it to those starving children instead. None-the-less I ate it all. She would demand I "clean up" my plate.
Maybe it was that early training for cleaning up my plate that prepared me for my eating habits today. (I'm thinking that psychologically it was. Readers, beware!) I would hate to think that my mother only wanted me to do that so she didn't need to scrape food into the waste can. I just can't seem to help myself though. I must eat whatever is on my plate.
It doesn't matter how much is on my plate, I have got to finish everything. Heaven forbid that I would waste a single bite of food. I must set a good example for my kids as well. How would it look to them if I left food on my plate and they were expected to clean up their plates?
I can eat a huge helping of food even if I think I can't possibly eat it. Why? Because somewhere out there my mother is watching, saying "I'll bet those starving children overseas would love to have that food to eat!" and so I bow my head, pick up my fork and continue to shovel it in. Moaning afterwards, "ooooooohhhhhh, why did I eat so much food?"
So, as I was saying earlier; our bellies are packed, we're ready to go. We're standing here, outside the restaurant door ..... (music in the background) low moaning drifting off into the distance....
Dave says "it's just the right sized portion". Aaron says, "it the America sized portions we are served", Shalom says "the plate sizes are much too large these days". Tara says, "you get a to go box, ya know? Save the extra for lunch tomorrow." Her mother never told her the starving foreign children stories.
I just hear my mother telling me to clean up that food.
