Amazing Grace

Before our family eats, we hold hands and say a simple prayer. Samy leads us in the prayer she learned in pre-school and has been saying ever since: “Now we bow our heads to say, thank you for our food today.” And then I usually add: “May the food we eat give us strength to do good in the world, and may all who are hungry have all the food they need.”

It feels good to give thanks for our food. We aren’t thanking anyone in particular; we are simply expressing gratitude for what we have. This is an important practice. We all have so much. Even though I know this, I have been keenly aware of it as I have been preparing for my trip to Guatemala to help people who have so little in the way of material possessions. So many of us are caught in circles of longing. The media teaches us to want more than what we have. When we recently saw the movie “It’s Complicated” (very funny), it struck me that the plot of the movie was propelled by Meryl Streep’s character’s preoccupation with adding an addition and “dream kitchen” to her already huge house. Even though she had an enormous kitchen, it wasn’t what she had always wanted, and so she was changing it. This was supposed to symbolize her personal growth and growing self-esteem. But as Lama Marut says, “The desire for things to be different than they are is what is keeping us from seeing things as they are as perfect.” I think it would be a very good practice to periodically look at our lives and be grateful. To feel like we are complete without changing a thing. It would be good to remind ourselves that we don’t need anything outside of ourselves to be happy and whole.

The wish that by eating my food, all who are hungry have all the nourishment they need, comes from a prayer Jews say at the Passover service every spring: “Remember that it is we who were slaves in Egypt. May all who are in bondage be free.” To me, this is the most important aspect of Judaism: the reminder that we were once slaves in Egypt, the empathy with all who are currently enslaved, and the wish that all who are in servitude be free.” The Passover service reminds us never to turn our backs on the oppression of others, because we were once in that same position. Slavery can take many different forms. There is the slavery that is apparent, such as what blacks suffered at the hands of whites in the first centuries of our country. But there is also slavery that is disguised, such as the bondage to money, possessions, and believing that something other than what we have will make us happy. People who are enslaved to another can identify their oppressors; it is clear what must be done to achieve freedom. Because dissatisfied, unhappy people do not realize they are their own oppressors, it is hard to know how to achieve liberation.

It is also good to think: by my eating my food, may others be free from hunger. Imagine if this were true. Imagine that you could give your food and your act of eating it a higher purpose. Imagine that with every mouthful, somewhere in the world, a starving person’s hunger abated. Yesterday, I felt this very deeply as I ate my lunch. As I brought each forkful to my mouth, I felt that simultaneously a hungry child in Haiti was receiving aid. With each bite, another child was fed and was no longer hungry. It was a very powerful and beautiful feeling. I do wish it so.

A single person cannot, single-handedly, save every suffering soul in our big world. It is easy to give up, avert the eyes, and feel like we are each powerless. But we can each do what we can, and in fact infuse everything we do with the wish that somehow our thoughts, words and actions help to relieve the suffering of all beings. We can wish it so. If we all did, we would see change. This is what is meant by “Amazing Grace.”