I almost always get to choose what I eat.
I'm lucky.
Someone at the gym brought in a carload of food that had been donated by a local business. Tons of stuff. Frozen stuff, dairy stuff, cans, bags, organic, not organic.
I found myself thinking, "Thank you, but I don't think I'd eat that." "How are the dates? Is everything expired?" "It doesn't specifically say MSG on the label, but some of the natural flavors could be MSG in disguise."
My husband and I have sometimes made donations to a local food shelf. I actually love taking the "most asked for" list and making bags of food to give.
But the food they're asking for isn't often what I'd choose to eat. And even when they ask for peanut butter, I never know it it's better to give two jars of organic or four jars of the industrial kind--even when I know that peanuts are one of the most heavily sprayed foods. They say peanuts are full of pesticides.
So I thought, as I accepted an armload of this stuff, how it would feel if I didn't get to choose. If I would have given the yogurt to my kids even if it was a couple days past the date...and let them have the boxed macaroni and cheese because it was quick, and they love it. It's easy to think about these things in the abstract, but I've never before looked at a pile of offered free food and thought, "How would it feel if this is all I had to work with?" If there was no choice. If you were thankful for--if still unhappy with--this gift of food from strangers.
So much gets taken for granted.
What did I learn? I'm spoiled. I'm a snob. I haven't really appreciated how much harder it is to "do your best" when you can't just have whatever it is you want. I've known in the past that's true, but I've never felt it in my heart before.