Sue P. recommends this Op-ed piece by David Brooks from the NYT. It deals with the healing effects of eating and sharing around the dining room table. The power of this is amazing for the young people with fragmented lives and dysfunctional homes. Click here for the article “The Power of a Dinner Table.”
I happened to have two “dinner table” gatherings last week. The first was with a couple in New Jersey. We had a four and a half-hour lunch marathon – sharing stories and finding out how much we had in common. There seemed to be this magical space for conversation as we dined together. The second was at a class reunion in Bryn Athyn, PA. There was a sizable gathering at a friend’s house and several of us ended up eating around a large dining table. Suddenly the stories and reminiscences began to pour out over two hours – varying from funny to poignant to remembering those who have passed. We learned new things and reaffirmed old friendships.
Benjamin Franklin had a love for dinner table discussions saying something to the effect that he couldn’t remember the food having enjoyed the conversation so much.
Brooks notes that the dinner table carries a special meaning for the disadvantaged – it can become a place for hope, civility, sharing, learning and even crying. No cell phones allowed. Perhaps young families with children can begin to emulate and provide this fertile experience needed for bonding and growth.
In terms of Skyline, it’s an important part of our daily lives here – that magical place, the dinner table.
That was one rare Brooks column!
The dinners he now attends share a lot in common with a Catholic Worker House in Iowa that feeds the homeless throughout the week.
In the classroom, the toughest kids are the gentlest and most generous for two activities: sharing food with their classmates and teacher (within the classroom), and tending to growing plants both in the classroom and in a garden.
If everyone could experience such social interactions, we would be so different. If the public spent time in the institutions where the job is to care for people, we’d have a better world. The very policies which some journalists (e.g., Brooks) and (ahem) oh so many politicians promote/enable with their promises and their platitudes — those policies make certain we don’t support eachother.
And what do Skyline diners say, but won’t write? Do profits and power demand domination and exploitation, religion, privilege? Human nature – what’s that?
Thanks for coming home to your blog, Jim!
I should have signed my comment:
One More Nasty Woman
🙂