Too Much Bread

 

"Why, I feel all thin, sort of stretched, if you know what I mean: like butter that has been scraped over too much bread.  That can't be right.  I need a change, or something." Bilbo to Gandalf in Fellowship of the Ring

Have you been feeling like butter scraped over too much bread lately?  If you have, it has been my observation that you are not alone in this feeling.  And, I think it is safe to say that most everyone has had, and will have, moments like this throughout their lives.  It's natural.  It's normal.  It's difficult.  And it is hard to get out of.

I have had the privilege to wear many kinds of shoes (I usually wear the same kind of hat) in my lifetime.  I've been a teacher.  I've been a farmer.  I've been a software engineer and I've been a writer.  I have also been given the gift of glimpses into other lives.  I've seen the trials of members of various health professions and the heavy burden carried by those in Social Work.  I've seen how quickly activists and organizers can burn out under the weight of the world.  I've witnessed the unhealthy doses of abuse people in the service industry get on a regular basis at the hands of those who feel the small fee they have paid gives them the right to abuse.  I cringe when I hear people who know nothing about a particular job declare anyone who does that thing to be evil, incompetent, or...

Well, you get the idea.

If you have never taught - and it does not matter what age the students are - you may not fully recognize exactly how much teachers care about the well-being of students and their success in learning.  To teach is to spend from your own essence - in hopes that it will lead to growth for those who are in your classes.  A teacher is often balancing the concern for one student who is in an abusive relationship with the difficulty of trying to find a way to help another learn a concept that is apparently very difficult for them.  Meanwhile, they must continue to forge ahead so that the class, as a whole, is given every opportunity to learn.  Oh, and while you are at, there are meetings, and paperwork, and grading, and lesson planning.  And... well you get the idea.

I have lived some of those moments as a teacher where there is almost no butter to scrape over the bread.  And I know there are cycles in every school term where that happens.  Eventually, it gets harder to refill that tub of butter, and it can feel like the only solution is to get out.

As a farmer, there are times when it feels like the entire world is set against everything that you hope to do.  It never fails.  In the same week, the tractor will break down, raccoons will get into the chickens, a windstorm will tear the plastic off of a high tunnel, and you'll still have to act like everything is going to be fine when you make deliveries to your customers.  Then, you drop a single tray of seedlings so that most of the plants are broken and useless - and someone else sprays a nearby field with an herbicide on a windy day.  The last straw - this event that just caps off a series of difficulties.  And, you feel like your toast must be awfully dry, for there is no butter for you either.

It feels like many people are eating dry bread without butter lately.  Many folks are struggling - and for many different reasons.

It's time to start sharing the butter if you've got extra.  People need it.

Hey!  All of you teachers that are in some of the difficult mid-stages of the current school term - I can't tell you how proud I am of your dedication and your efforts.  There are people in this world who DO appreciate you for what you do.  In fact, there are far more of us, I believe, than there are people who don't.  It's just that the majority who appreciate you aren't being LOUD ENOUGH!  We're not being persistent in our support.  Well, there's more butter for you.  Keep at it - as a person who has taught, I am aware of the rewards - they often come when you least expect it.  They are worth it.  And so are you.

Hey - you people who work in health professions!  All of you people who are in social work professions!  Anyone in a helping profession of any kind!  I know it's hard work that you do, caring for others.  It's so difficult to come home after seeing so many troubling things during your working hours.  How hard must it be for Emergency Medical Service personnel to deal with witnessing severe injuries and deaths?  How many times can one person hear about children who don't get enough to eat from day to day?  I cannot take the burden away, none of us can.  But, we can help the people in these professions to bear it.  And, we can do things to take other cares away from their burdens when we can.  How about we make sure they get paid enough so they aren't also worried about paying their bills?  It's just one way we can add butter to their bread.

I suppose I could keep on with specifics, but then I'll just miss someone or something - and that's not the whole point of this post.

The point is this - if you've got extra, and you see that your neighbor's toast is dry - SHARE YOUR BUTTER.

Thank you for your work, whatever you do.  I respect what you do and I appreciate that there are difficulties in your profession that I probably do not see or recognize.  I understand that life is not always easy for any of us and that there will be times when you are not your best.  I also appreciate that there will be those moments when you have too little butter and you will feel stretched thin and ready to break.  

When that happens, feel free to ask.  I may have extra butter for you.

And, I hope that if I feel dry and ready to break that you will share that extra butter with me.