the kitchen

The community kitchen is some powerful shit. I am convinced the community kitchen could have kept Lex Luthor from turning evil. The community kitchen could have kept Darth Vader from the dark side. And I don’t mean because they would have had full bellies, I mean because they would have had full hearts. Wow. That’s soo corny. But I feel like the “other” that I get at the kitchen is just as big and just as powerful as any nourishment. What is this “other” I mean?
First off, people don’t just go to the kitchen because they want to. They go because they need to. Because it is imperative. Because there is no other way to make ends meet. You are sitting in the gutter and someone gives you food. Good food. And it’s not the food so much that matters, but just the fact that someone looked at you. Someone acknowledged you. Someone says, “yes, you exist.” And not just that, but “you matter.” The Fact That You Exist, Matters. It’s a community saying, “no, we’re not going to let you go.”
I can see now how Edward Norton gets addicted to the support meetings in Fight Club. And that feeling of letting go, of falling, and then bouncing. Of being saved. That’s amazing. It’s like being reborn. It’s like going to confession. Being baptized.
That is some powerful medicine. For me, going to the kitchen means hitting bottom and being reminded that you still matter, that it will be ok in the end. That someone will reach a hand out and help you. And that’s enough to warm a cold, cold heart.
It gives me hope. And not just hope that I’ll turn out ok, but hope for the future of our community. As long as we have people who care about others, who care enough to give this kind of support to perfect strangers, for no reason at all, for no personal gain, then I think maybe as a society we’ll be ok. Maybe we can all save ourselves.
And this makes me think maybe I should be working in a non-profit. What I loved about being a public librarian was this idea of helping the common man, teaching people to teach themselves. Inspiring people to want to learn, and then watching them light up when they realized all that was out there for them. Maybe I should be in the social services…I have to start my revolution somewhere.