ham

There is a story about a little girl who was cooking Christmas dinner with her mother. They were preparing a ham and the mom cut off both ends of the ham before placing it in the pan and into the oven. The little girl asked her mom why she cut off such a large portion of the ham. The mom replied that she did this because her mom did. The curious little girl went to her grandmother and asked, 'Grandma, why did you cut the ends of the ham off before cooking it?' The grandmother replied that she had always done so because her mom had. Still not satisfied the little girl went to her great grandmother and asked 'Great Grandmother, why did you cut off the ends of the ham before cooking it?' To which the great grandmother replied 'because the ham was too big for the pan, honey.'

Really? You mean to tell me these crazy women have been wasting all this ham for no reason! Its a good thing Great Grandmother was still alive to tell the poor child the reason she cut the ham in the first place. Now little Suzy, or whatever her name is, can stop the vicious cycle and be the first woman in her family to get her money's worth out of her Christmas ham. Sound familiar?

Situations like this are happening in families from all walks of life all over the world. Some little girl is learning behaviors and beliefs from her mother, who learned it from her mother, who learned it from her mother, who...you get the point. And its not just ham we're dealing with. We're dealing with all aspects of life. Behaviors and beliefs that are taught without explanation. Behaviors and beliefs that are learned and never questioned. Behaviors and beliefs that are passed through generations.

I'm not saying that all behaviors and beliefs little girls (or boys) learn from their moms (or dads) are wrong. The point I am trying to make is that they are accepted without being understood. Unfortunately it is often both the parent and the child who don't understand. We need to step back and ask ourselves why we behave and believe the way we do...and 'because my mom did' isn't going to fly.

Think of the possibilities of change that exist if everyone took a moment to self evaluate. I've pondered this all afternoon and the three things that I can't stop thinking about are religion, health and prejudice.

What if every Christian studied the reason they believe? What if they attended church every Sunday because they want to obey God, learn and worship instead of attending church only because they grew up thinking it was the right thing to do?

What if young adults stopped accepting their obesity because their parents are overweight and got out and exercised? What if they were proactive with their health instead of accepting what they think they are genetically predisposed to?

What if adults asked themselves why they use racial slurs? What if they questioned why they raise their children to be less accepting to people of a different ethnicity?

And how many more days of Christmas leftovers could have been had all those years if the ends of those hams had never been cut off?