A Matter of Perspective
After running around all afternoon, the last thing I wanted to do was prepare dinner. I had about twenty minutes to whip something up. Hmm, I thought, what could I make that’s healthy, organic, gluten free, dairy free, with no partially hydrogenated oils? My mind drifted. Wouldn’t life be so much healthier if we could eat like the pioneers did? They didn’t worry about cholesterol, heart disease, or cancer, to the extent that we do. They simply ate what they could hunt and gather. How nice.
I opened the freezer and found a bag of freshly, frozen, organic broccoli (the bag was PBA free). I placed it in the microwave and steamed it for a few minutes. Meanwhile I added a cup of organic brown rice to my rice cooker and diced up some free-range, organic chicken. I sautéed the chicken in a gluten-free seasoning. And voila! About that time my husband walked through the door from a long day at the office, the timer on the rice cooker dinged. Dinner was done!!!
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It was a hot day on the plains in the late 1800’s. She had spent all morning tending to her family’s garden, milking cows and collecting eggs. It was late afternoon and soon darkness would overtake the small Kansas farm. She prayed to the Good Lord for enough strength to prepare supper.
As she kneaded the dough for the bread with one hand, and wiped her perspiring forehead with the other hand, she cursed under her breath. Her eyes were growing heavy and her muscles ached from all the hard labor she had done on the farm. Then the slightest smile crossed her lips as she stirred the hot pot of stew and thought: Maybe someday, someone, in a future generation will figure out a way to genetically modify food. Oh, and maybe design appliances that would cook the food faster. It would make life so much easier.
Sometimes it’s just our perspective.
