The End of Salt

The other day, I learned that NYC is contemplating passing a city ordinance which would eliminate salt in restaurants. Surprisingly, it does not have New Yorkers in an uproar. This is strange because, having lived in NYC, I know that New Yorkers usually do not like people telling them how to live or what to eat. They live and let live. They support their neighbors but they don't want anyone up in their face. A perfect example of this occurred while once shopping at Zabars.

For those of you who have never lived in NYC, Zabars is, almost, the Saks Fifth Avenue of grocery stores. Rows and rows of fresh breads, cheeses, fruits and vegetables...everything is very nice, comes in surprisingly small proportions (compared to those of us used to Costco), and is, of course, quite expensive. But when you want quality, you go to Zabars. (And then you eat ramen noodles for the next three weeks. Thank goodness you can eat it in so many ways.)

In Zabars one day, at the beginning of my NY experience, I had a cart or some kind of contraption that holds food and it was by my feet. A New Yorker passing by the aisle apparently felt that it was in the way and moved it a foot with nary a word expressed. Not an 'excuse me' or 'pardon me' or even a rude 'get out of my way'. He just simply and quietly moved the obstacle, got what he needed, and went on his way. Pretty typical of NY.

So why aren't they saying something about salt? Have you eaten food with no salt? Do you know why they called it the Dark Ages? No salt. (Okay, they really called it 'dark' because of the lack of truth in religion, but it's kind of the same thing. Hold on a minute and you'll see why I say that.) Food without salt is really bland. Can you imagine going out to a fancy restaurant to eat a favorless meal? Why would I pay money for that? I can get that for free from a bowl of plain oatmeal. That's why no one eats oatmeal plain. It's gross.

But this seems telling to me. Some extremist nuts who think the world would be better without salt or that salt shouldn't be available so freely because people might get too much or that people are just 'too stupid' to know how to control their own intake and so someone else has to control you and your diet. Now remember the phrase 'salt of the earth'? Remember how the Savior stated that if the salt loses its savor it is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled on? Have you noticed how many people lately seem to have lost courage, lost faith, lost hope, lost the pure love of Christ? We know that 'the love of man will wax cold'. People are losing that which made us human. The salt is losing its savor. The world is becoming a plain bowl of oatmeal. Such a waste.

Throughout the world we have people trying to control our right to believe, control who we worship and what we say. Some say that those who believe in religion are 'stupid', 'naive', or 'bigoted'. They must control what we think and how we educate our young. For our own good, of course, because we just can't seem to get it right on our own. In effect, they are trying to ban our 'religious salt' from 'public restaurants,' as it were.

Well, frankly, I want salt. I want flavor in my meals and I want religion in my life. I want the right that my forefathers fought and died for. I want what we founded this country for. The right to believe. "We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may." I want to live in a country that believed and stated we were endowed with inalienable rights by our Creator, THE CREATOR. It was the very thing we protected with the Constitution.

If you want salt, religious salt, then stand up. Look at what your children are being taught. Look at the ordinances being passed in your city. Know what is happening in this country and around the world. I'm not arguing to shove salt down someone's throat (that's not wise on any level), nor do I think you should take this analogy too far, but I am arguing that we need to be less afraid to have our metaphorical salt and less afraid to offer it to those around us. Salt was fought for at one time. It was considered as valuable as gold. It is essential to have in order to survive, or the iodine in it anyway. Do you want spiritual goiter? I don't. No one does. Why would we promote or allow others to promote a country of people suffering from spiritual goiter? Is this not the famine Isaiah spoke of? I think it is. A famine of the word of God. A famine of spiritual salt.

I, for one, am grateful for salt, both real and spiritual. I think most of us are. That's what makes this country great. So thank you for those who worked so hard to bring us salt. I, for one, love it.