PLEASE PASS THE SALT

When I was a kid, in high school (yes, I did go to school), I had a quirky habit of using quotes or “sayings” as I called them to insert into the conversations we would have.  I called them “Grand-pappy sayings”. 

 For instance, someone might be talking about setting goals or making plans, I would speak up and say “Well, my ole grand-pappy use to say, “It’s better to shoot at the moon and hit the wood pile than to shoot at the wood pile and hit your foot”.   Perhaps we would be talking about something we wished would happen or we wished we had.  I’d say “Wish in one hand and spit in the other and see which one gets full first”.  I had hundreds of them.

 I don’t think I ever heard my grandfather say any of those things.  It was just something I did to be part of the conversation. 

 Later on in life when I started teaching emergency medical classes I used stories.  If the class I was teaching that night was on fractures and splinting let’s say, I would give the rules for splinting and then follow it up with a story of how I splinted a certain fracture or handled a certain situation.  “War stories” is what the students called them.  They heard plenty of them if they sat in my classes.  I do the same thing when I teach Bible studies or Sunday school.  I will use a story to get the point across. 

 It was implied many times; heck even said outright that I should just stick to the facts and forget telling all those old stories.  “No one wants to hear your stories, just get on with the lesson”.  But that’s the way I teach.   I just couldn’t or wouldn’t teach a “real” lesson like other instructors.  I just wasn’t cut out to take the standardized slide show or power point presentation and go through all the points; I had to tell a story or two.

 I felt sort of bad about that until I was reading the other day and read the scripture that came with the little daily “blurp” that we call devotions.  It was taken from Colossians 4: 6; “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man.”

Now salt is a very interesting mineral.  According to the internet (You know if it’s on the internet it has to be true.) salt has over 14,000 uses.   It has been used for preserving meats; it is used for purifying and for its healing capabilities and what you and I are more apt to use it for, flavor. 

As I thought about that scripture I realized that Paul was saying not only should the things I say be graceful or kind and helpful but also my words should be “salty”.  They should be “flavorful”.  They should be enjoyable.

If I just stand in front of a class or a group of people and spew out facts and figures most folks won’t remember them or get very much from them.  Even f they are studious enough to write down the information and remember it, they surely won’t enjoy what they heard.  But if I throw in a few “war stories” or use a few of my “ole grand-pappy” sayings and make the lesson a bit interesting they may just remember something and walk away instructed and entertained; after all, most people would rather be inspired than instructed. 

Case in point and I’ll hush about this.  I had a lady in my EMT class many years ago.  She completed my class with flying colors and went on to take paramedic training.  She was working with an ambulance service and doing a great job.  One night she stopped by the class out at Wallace Community College where I was teaching at the time.  At break she came up to me and said, “I just want to tell you something.  I was working a wreck not long ago and was faced with a rather unique situation.  I wasn’t sure exactly what to do with this patient.  Suddenly I remembered one of those silly old stories you told in EMT class.  It applied to this situation and this patient.  I was able to treat the patient correctly and get him to the hospital for further treatment”. 

Needless to say, what she said made me feel good.  So I think I will take her advice and add it to the words of Paul and just keep on sprinkling a little salt into my conversation.  Remembering that too much is bad for you, but a little bit gives your speech a bit of flavor.