Burnt Toast
Many years ago my husband and I were Hostel Parents to 15 children plus two of our own, all aged under 12.
The morning ritual of breakfast was probably the most stressful. Can you imagine cooking toast for 19 people every day? We had a large 4 slice toaster, but it wasn’t reliable and inevitably there would be a couple of burnt pieces of toast.
I began taking note of where the most burnt piece was in the stack of toast and when the toast plates were placed on the table, I would pick through the stack and take the darkest piece before passing the plate on to the next person. Not because I liked burnt toast, but because it saved the other children fighting over who would have to eat the burnt one.
It wasn’t long before one of the children began looking through and picking the most burnt one. Then another and yet another child began to look for burnt toast. It became a race to see who could get the blackest toast and we were actually asked to burn more!
I often think of the burnt toast, especially when I catch myself wanting something that someone else wants or has. Do I want the ‘burnt toast’ because someone else already has it? Do I really want ‘burnt toast’? Most of the time, by the time I answer those questions the desire for ‘burnt toast’ has begun to fade. Thank you, children, for teaching me a valuable lesson.
DJ
