Cardiac check up

I saw this in a market in a South East Asian country recently. I wanted to have a taste of it, but it was too late that day and already full. So I thought I’d try another day. But I did take some photos and sent them to friends and family. The response I got was: “How can you even think about this?”; “Someone’s poison is someone else’s delicacy—how can that be?; “Are you going to eat a plate of the ‘abominable’?” one asked.

Another response was almost: “How can they eat such things? Are they even human?”

I was okay with the “whew’s,” “phew’s,” and “ugh’s,” but writing people off based on their cuisine - I found that a bit challenging.

In the shrub in our garden, we get three types of birds. One - the hummingbirds - come in to suck the nectar. Then there’s the group that comes to pick up bird feed from the feeder. And finally, the crows that collect all the junk from the floor. But their food does not disqualify them from the family of ornithes.

Does what goes in - or what we eat - make us less human? Homo sapiens, made in the intrinsic image of God, do they become marred because of what they eat? All of us are marred creation anyway…

The next morning, two young ladies (medical professionals), who had visited this location for the first time, said, “Sir, this place is very challenging. We went out late at night and it was very bad.”

I knew where this was going. I said, “Remember, this is an open culture. In this nation, what you consider ‘bad’ happens in public. In our nation, the same happens behind closed doors. Think about the prevalence of various diseases - closed cultures often have a higher prevalence than open ones.”

Does visible, unacceptable behaviour make a person worse than behaviour that is hidden or unseen? My natural tendency is to condemn praxis or pedia—practice or stand (based on my understanding of orthopraxis or orthopedia, right practice and right stand) - without considering the cardiac condition (orthocardia).

Suppose I were to ask the crow, “Why do you eat junk?” It would say, “It’s in our nature, and we love it!” Or if I asked exotic food lovers, they might say, “We love it, we have the right heart, and we find it delicious”—orthocardia—even though others might think they are people of bad behaviour!

This is what the Good Book talks about: “Looks aren’t everything. Don’t be impressed with looks and stature. I’ve already eliminated him. God judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; God looks into the heart.”

But can humans do this?

I prefer to decide who is good or bad and brush people off based on what I see - not what is unseen and hidden. Because that is fast and easy. The other takes time and effort. But it can be done - if I learn to see beyond what I see, listen beyond what I hear, and understand the person, not just the behaviour. But it is cumbersome.

So finally, did I eat this plate of “abomination,” as one friend told me? No. My communicated reason is: I couldn’t find a friend (all my friends gave up on me 😞) to accompany me. I won’t tell you the cardia - because that might confirm the suspicion that I am a hypocrite, at least in some readers’ minds! 😄. I want to believe and let others know that I have "Orthocardia" till I am proved wrong. 

May be it's time for a cardiac check up.