For workers at the Gleaners program, which is featured in our Inside Wellington this week, their goal is simple – selfless service for others.
A good friend introduced us to that concept a while ago and in these days, it is a much welcome change. And how fitting is that as an Inside Wellington cover story for Thanksgiving weekend? As most of us tuck into a delicious fall meal, celebrating a good harvest, the bounty our climate provides us, and our own good fortune, we would do well to remember that life for many other people is a struggle.
Gleaners from years ago were often the widows and orphans who struggled for an existence. They were allowed into the fields of the wealth to glean the grains and fruits that might have been missed or ignored by those people better off.
The Gleaners program today is quite simple – and evokes that tradition that is thousands of years old. Produce that might not meet the exacting standards of Canadian grocers, who are intent on meeting the exacting high demands of their consumer market, can often go to waste.
A blemish or two on a potato or carrot is merely that, but people in our society seem unable or unwilling to deal with such imperfections. So, far too often, fruits and vegetables that are perfectly good end up being tossed out as not being fit for sale, or even saleable.
The Gleaners, with many volunteer hands, take that material and process, cut, and dry it and use it to make soup for people in countries that are far less wealthy as ours – and not as exacting, either. Hunger can really help an appetite.
It is in that mode of selfless service that something else very special happens. Neighbours and friends gather, regardless of religious affiliation, to help.
A generation or two ago, the chances of finding people of different religious persuasions working side by side in harmony and happiness would have been very remote. In that sense, today, we have come a long way.
At the Gleaners, as long as workers have good intentions and a desire to help, they are welcomed with open arms.
There is an understandable pride in helping others, but we suspect that the group also has a lot of fun, too. Shared work and a worthwhile project with lots of hands on board are not much different that, say, a dozen hands working to bring in a crop of hay before a rainfall, or even a barn raising, where everyone contributes what he or she can.
