Lessons from Nature: Essence

'You are the Salt of the Earth', Jesus says this in the gospel according to Mathew 5:13 (Bible). This statement set me thinking. My imagination!!! (God save me). I imagined myself as a big grain of rock salt, jumping around. I had limbs, pair of eyes, a mouth and no nose. I imagined myself to be that grain of salt and entered into an animated world. If you imagined me in the kitchen with all the other stuff with hands, legs, eyes and mouth then you are on the right path. I suddenly realized that I was scoped with an oversized spoon by a fat lady. The lady from ‘Tom and Jerry’; wears an apron, patched socks, and bedtime slip-on sleepers. Her face is still a mystery to me too. She feared tiny moving objects so she jumped around and accidentally smashed me. Ouch!!!!! (If you don’t know this lady.. just Google – fat lady from Tom and Jerry)

The exciting imaginative adventure with a tragic ending brought me to reality. I began thinking about how salt is made the traditional way. The traditional saltpans flashed before me. Salty water from a river is being diverted to an open field. The whole process of evaporation. And finally, white substance that you see where the river water was once collected. It’s a gradual and tough process. For us human beings to really become 'human', we have to go through this process of evaporation or purification. A process that helps us get in touch with our true essence. Our true essence is to be good, to love and to be loved. We are relational beings we can’t live in isolation, so interaction is very important for us. The degree and kind of interaction may vary but it is needed.

Coming back to what we like the most – food. When the salt in any dish is too much and noticeable it ruins the dish. But if it's in proper quantity no one even realizes that there is salt. We should not forget that salt makes a difference wherever it is present. We must be like salt trying to make a difference in the lives of others without being noticed. The moment we are noticed people will start cursing us, the way you complain to one who cooks for you about extra salt in the food. Or like an ill-mannered wo\man in a restaurant, pushing the plate away and shouting at the waiter.

Moral: Let’s personify salt and imitate it. Make a difference with your presence and your absence felt.