old salt
following is a copy of a seasonally timely parable that a friend, john steiner, was thoughtful enough to share with some friends.
There is an old story that is known and told in several Native American tribes. It's a story born of this land and a tale for the diverse people that come, one way or another, to inhabit it. The story involves an old grandmother and her young grandson who are hungry and wandering the roads of life. They seek a welcome in this world that can become so easily divided and so rejecting of those who become vulnerable and outcast.
Eventually, the old woman and her grandchild arrive at a village that has been hit by hard times. The people have little enough to eat and the future looks dark and forbidding to them. Yet, when the old woman asks for food, she and the child are welcomed and invited to share in the thin soup that must pass for a meal. In gratitude, the old woman draws some crystals from her cloak and sprinkles them into the soup. All kinds of hidden flavors suddenly appear in the soup as those who share in it delight in the surprising nourishment that it provides.
The grandmother's name turns out to be "Old Salt Woman," for she was the one who first gave salt to the people. She is salty and wise like the earth itself. She always travels with her grandchild as they represent the deep connection between the vulnerability of youth and the wisdom of the elders. She tries to demonstrate how generosity and compassion are like preserving salts that bring out the hidden gifts of community and the deeper tastes of life.
Old Salt Woman serves as a reminder to people that they are indeed the "salt of the earth" and the true source of genuine community and peace. She appears during hard times to stir the pot and season the communal feast that keeps being forgotten because of greed, or self-involvement, or collective blindness.
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