TODAY THE WORDS ARE SO WHERE ARE MY GRITS?

TODAY THE WORDS are SO, WHERE ARE MY GRITS? Last night, Greg and I went to a great restaurant Carrabbas and enjoyed a great meal and this topic did not come to me until this morning when I was looking over last night’s posts of the cuisine  and I saw Calamari (another name for squid) along with antipasto (an appetizer typically consisting of olives, anchovies, cheeses, and meats). I realized how my life has evolved from so many of the good ole Southern food or has it? Let’s see…hmm? Grits, fritters, butts, catfish, hush puppies, head cheese or souse and so forth. Where did these names come from? We live and eat by these names but it amused me why someone named a fish “catfish”. Did it look like a cat? I have caught many catfish and not one time did it remind me of a cat and hopefully it will never as I would never eat another one and they are too good to stop. I have heard of the story behind hush puppies and when people would be eating fish, their dogs would be barking, wanting something to eat and the “folks” would throw a piece of the bread to them in hopes of quieting them down. Hush Puppy was said and therefore the name stuck. Grits were probably called this because of a gritty nature until softened with cooking but I tried to research to see if there was any other reason. I saw a writer say, “Grits deserve a better name since they get a bad wrap.” Don’t say that to any southerner who has to have their grits with certain meals. I have poked a little fun with food but it brought a deeper thought….We live in a diversified world, with diversified people, cultures, races, ethics, and cuisine. We believe differently in our faiths or some people choose to not believe at all (which for me is unbelievable, but since I believe that is understandable). We have different customs; we have different priorties; we have different lifestyles; and we have different dresses. I say this to get to this question. What do we have in common? We are born which is a miracle in itself; all of us breathe air to live; we all have a beating heart; we have to have nourishment to eat; and we all die at some time. I see a pattern here. It seems we are different but in Our Creator’s eyes, we are the same. We can eat different foods or we can try those “foreign” foods and we may like them. We can go to different areas and learn how they live. We can be respectful of other’s traditions and customs but what we have to remember….In the end we all die and when we die, we are the same facing eternity and hopefully we have eternal peace. Different foods will not matter; different customs will not matter; what will matter is if we have  earned our place in Heaven?