ONCE UPON A TIME, SPAM MEANT SOMETHING ELSE

Spam, Brown Rice, and Scrambled Eggs
(Hawaiian Odysseus photo)

I constantly straddle the Pacific.

What I mean by this is that I seem, as of late, to have one foot in the islands and the other foot in Seattle.

I can't help it.  It's in the nature of Hawaiian Odysseus to be double-minded. The journey home, as I alluded to in a previous post (see http://hawaiianodysseus.blogspot.com/2011/04/road-home.html), has three destinations.  

First, there is a return to the home of origin.  Only in understanding and building a resolution of past conflicts can we be free to journey forward...

To the nuclear home...to one's palace and queen...to the residual and maturing adventures of the heart...to a gentle settling and acceptance of the precious time one has left...to find the peace of completing the final leg of the trip home...

To self.  

Man's grasp of God can only be meaningful if he can truly come to appreciate why the Creator made him.

Home to self isn't about being self-centered.  It's about tremendous appreciation for creation as an integral step towards appreciation for the divine.

And this is why I wanted to write a post about SPAM today.

The mention of Spam in current circles would suggest to most people that you were referring to the unwanted advertisements that stubbornly appear in one's inbox...you know, the junk mail of computerdom.  

But Spam originally was developed in World War II as a convenient and economical way of supplying protein to GI's.  It was and continues to be very popular among residents of Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines and other Pacific Rim populations.

Wikipedia does an excellent and comprehensive job of documenting the history and usefulness of Spam, so I will share its link with you in this post.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_(food)

I'm returning to my nuclear home very soon...perhaps eight weeks from now.  

And when I do, I will be just as double-minded and just as busy straddling the Pacific there as I am here in Seattle.

I will be just as much Spam there as I am here.  Just as much something for those eating steaks to look down upon and make fun of and underestimate to kingdom come.

But I will be, true to my Spammy nature, useful and resourceful and appreciated for the humble and insignificant contributions I make--just like my Hormel predecessor.  And over time, just as God had intended all along, I will have made a difference for the better.

Why?  Because God never considers His creations as less than perfect.

Not even Spam.