fresh & easy

(We just finished reading Like Water for Chocolate and the girls do an assignment where they produce a food contribution, the recipe, and a write up that fleshes out some sort of symbolic value in the food they prepared.  Here was my contribution this year.)

Caesar Salad

Ingredients:

1 Vehicle or friend with a vehicle or mode of public transportation or working legs

1 Fresh & Easy Store

2 Bags of Salad

1 Bowl and Scooper Thing

Directions:

1.  Go to store.

2.  Purchase 2 bags of salad.

3.  Open all the little bags in the big bags.

4.  Dump all the things together.

5.  Mix the things all around.

                  When I was younger, I remember my dad telling me about the supreme intelligence and general awesomeness of Sherlock Holmes.  He’s a fan.  He told me at one point, “Sherlock Holmes says knowing everything isn’t important, the key is to know how to FIND OUT what you need to know. “

                  I didn’t like it.  I was the kind of kid who really LIKED memorizing a bunch of things and spitting them back out on tests.  I didn’t have the best mind for trivia sort of knowledge, but I really liked the process of sitting down to memorize something- and an important part of that was feeling like that skill was somehow going to be useful.   I had big dreams of memorizing all of the countries of the world.   And maybe I’d get wild and memorize their capitals too.  Sherlock Holmes seemed to be deflating those goals.

                  -Flash forward to 2013 (cue video of that endless rainbow kitty video)-

  OK, Sherlock.  OK, dad.  You were so right.  We live in a world where the rote memorization of facts is less and less meaningful.  Our reality is in a constant and increasingly rapid state of flux.  The world I knew as a teenager and the way we connected or learned is DRASTICALLY different than the world you encounter today.  It’s not just technology, either.  The way my generation approaches career options is so different than my parent’s generation.  We shift.  We jump from job to job.  We are transient.  The importance in being a viable candidate in the workforce is no longer really a particular skill set or knowing how to do one thing really well, but the ability to adapt quickly to a new environment using the variety of skill sets you’ve accumulated from your past experience.  (there’s a little nugget of advice in there- did you grab it?  EMBRACE EXPERIENCE.  All things teach. )  If you don’t’ know a word, it’s no longer necessary to drag out the ol’ 20 pound dictionary (I LOVED my beloved 20 pound dictionary.  LOVED.  Rest in peace, you big beautiful clunky tome).  Instead, click on it and your Kindle will tell you.  Or ask Siri. 

                  So my point is, change is happening at an infinity rate I say we all embrace it and make the best of this brave new world.  In a mindful sort of way, of course. 

                  For example, running short on time, I opted to go the Caesar salad in a bag route for my contribution today.  I was aware of my own time constraints, and I used knowledge of my present situation to best utilize my resources and to adapt.  Even if I don’t know or can’t make a salad “from scratch” (ok, it’s a little stretch), I KNOW WHERE TO FIND IT.  Fresh & Easy.  Emphasis on Easy, glad about the Fresh.  Sherlock would be doing little fictional cartwheels of joy if he could see me now, I just know it. 

                  But here’s where the mindful part comes in to play.  I knew how to solve my problem, but purchasing I’m also aware that my solution could have been more optional.  Purchasing the bag salads includes buying a bunch of plastic packaging, the excess of which is putting our environment in a terrible sort of condition.  My convenience comes at a cost.  Also, even though Caesar salads walk around like they’re all healthy and green and beautiful, the real part that ropes you in is the Caesar dressing, which is nutritionally void and the opposite of health.  Let’s not even get started on croutons.  So my simple solution bag salad is not without it’s pitfalls.  Like technology.  Like pretty much everything.

So here is my concise list of bag salad wisdom nuggets:

1.      Knowing how to find out what you need to know is more important than knowing it.

2.      Embrace experience.  A variety of life experience leads to improved adaptability.

3.      But don’t go ignoring the pitfalls.  There are always pitfalls.  Be aware.

                                                                                                            J Ms. Ingram