This Thanksgiving greeting to members and friends of the American Waldensian Society was written by the Society´s Executive Director, Carol M. Bechtel.
As I was walking down a small street in Torre Pellice, Italy, last summer, I was tempted by the beautiful fruit that was displayed outside a small shop. The local plums were particularly attractive, so I chose one that was large, fresh, and fragrant. When I went inside to pay, the proprietor looked at me, smiled, and said, “For you–free!” Of course, she said it in Italian, so I was confused for two reasons! But her sign language made her meaning plain: The plum was a gift. I walked away grateful—not just for the plum, but for her generous spirit.
If we’ve been paying any attention at all, we know that food is anything but free. The journey from farm to table is paved with hours of hard labor and considerable sacrifice. How many people did it take to bring me that one “free” plum, I wonder? How many (often woefully underpaid) hands were involved in planting, pruning, irrigating, harvesting, processing, packaging, and transporting it?
Such questions inspire both gratitude and guilt. How can we enjoy the fruit of all that labor when we know—or at least suspect—that it often comes at the cost of injustice? Exploitation is often the unseen tax that is levied on our food. When we look at it in this light, the price seems way too high. The very act of eating often involves us in complex supply chains characterized by greed rather than grace.
A week or so after I enjoyed my “free” plum, I had the opportunity to visit a small social hostel for seasonal farm workers. It was just a few miles down the mountain in Saluzzo, Italy. Modeled on a similar ministry in Calabria, “Dambe So Saluzzo” offers housing, safety, and social support to some of the many workers who come to the area to help harvest peaches, apricots, plums, and apples. Dambe So means “House of Dignity,” and that is precisely what this hostel provides for these workers—some of whom come from sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe, India, and Bangladesh. Sponsored by Mediterranean Hope (ministry of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy—of which the Waldensian/Methodist church is a member), Dambe So Saluzzo seeks to replace exploitation with respect, and to bring integrity back to at least a small part of the supply chain.
Many of us in the U.S.A. will soon be sitting down to our annual Thanksgiving Day dinner. Some of us may even pray the traditional prayer that asks God to bless both the food and “the hands that have prepared it.” This year, I’m going to expand my notion of those “hands” to include those all along the complex supply chain from farm to table. I’m also going to think about that shopkeeper in Torre Pellice who gave me that “free” plum. I realize now that it cost her something, and that her gift was an act of generosity that I would like to imitate.
This Thanksgiving may we who have been blessed also seek to be a blessing. May we search for ways to be more ethical consumers. May we work to exchange an economy of greed for an economy of grace.