Since I was much younger I have always loved folktales, parables and fables from many different backgrounds and religions. In 7th grade I even started writing folktales featuring characters I had been learning about from Chinese and African traditions in Literature class. As an activist my favorite stories have always been about cooperation. If you have a free minute or so you should read The Sufi Story and the classic Stone Soup. 

On the Food Bus we sometimes serve sandwiches with fish-shaped bread. When I was serving them earlier this month the parable of Jesus feeding the masses with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread started scratching at my brain and I have been wanting to write something about it for a few weeks now. I still don't think I have worked out exactly what I have felt lead to talk about, but maybe this post will work it out.

This story is an often quoted miracle about what God can do with even the smallest resources (i.e. a little boy gave Jesus the bread and fish and the amount given was not nearly enough to feed the masses). Well, I believe in miracles, for sure. I've seen too many miracles happen when communities are brought together to achieve their goal. I have not really taken to reading the Bible literally so  my mind's eye tends to see the feeding of the masses as something closer to what happened in the Stone Soup story rather than supernatural division of the fish and bread.

Most days getting the Food Bus on the road with adequate amounts of resources feels like a miracle. Everyday this program needs many people for it to happen. I couldn't even give you a true number on exactly how many people put in some long hours to make this program possible, but I am so grateful to be working with them.

Solving our food security issues feels like it will take a miracle and a good dose of divine intervention. As a community we can make miracles happen and no contribution is too meager to help in the struggle. But the key is that we will have to come together to solve it. That means we have to step out of our comfort zones to meet and learn from people of all walks of life that are living the daily struggle. It means taking to task the people making decisions on food policy. And most importantly, it means finding others that are doing this work and figuring out how we can work together to build a better food system. The struggle is constant and never-ending, but there will be wins, big wins. When folks come together we manifest the wins.