The train whistle outside my downtown office window leaves me with a touch of nostalgia remembering the trains in my hometown of Gainesville Georgia. Sitting on the front porch of my Aunt Carolyn’s mill village house in the New Holland neighborhood snapping green beans and eating watermelon on hot summer days. Listening to the train whistle in the distance as Aunt Carolyn, her neighbor Faye, and sometimes other adults snap beans, gossip, and share stories.
Sometimes Faye would have southern gospel quartet albums playing from inside her house side of the duplex. The harmonies floating in the summer breeze mixing with the lonesome train whistle.
Many cultures have similar food related communal activities where folks gather to prepare food while socializing and telling stories. For example, Chinese or other Asian communities making dumplings together, Filipinos rolling lumpia spring rolls (especially for large family special celebrations), Koreans making kimchi together in a kimjang gathering, and Americans snapping beans on the front porch or preparing fruits and vegetables for canning, jarring, freezing etc. or making jams, jellies, and pickled vegetables.
All of these are communal activities that brings people together. Perhaps we need to embrace more communal activities to help heal the divides in our communities and country, if that’s possible.
I recall a good friend, retired Navy Captain Mike Rankin, who used to invite his non-Jewish friends to his house on Passover to share the Seder meal, introducing them to his culture. How might we invite people into our dear different communal and cultural events and activities to help build connections, awareness, increased humanity, empathy, and harmony?
Reflecting on your own stories, what communal and cultural activities do you remember fondly or still participate in? What benefits do you personally get from participating? How might inviting others to join help to build connections, increase humanity, empathy and harmony?
I encourage you to seek out these positive engagements that you feel provide significant benefits to your well-being and that of our community and nation. Think about how you can continue engagement while also inviting others to join you. As many memes out there say, perhaps the world would be a better place if more people spent time snapping beans on the front porch with family and friends. I know it makes me feel better after doing it. What are your feelings and benefits after snapping beans or participating in other similar communal activities? And how do you share that story and pay it forward? Consider telling your story and share the blessings because as always, Your Story Matters.
