Embrace Change

My brother told me a story he had told me before, and I was happy to hear it again. It is a story about four generations and a brisket.

The youngest of these four generations was making a brisket. Of course, she had learned the recipe from her Mother, and then her Mother had learned it from her Mother, and the same is true for the oldest generation.

As she made the brisket, she cut it in half before putting it in the pot. She wondered why they always cut it in half, so she called her Mom to find out. Why do you cut the brisket in half before putting it in the pot? Of course, the answer was that is how my Mom did it, so I just followed suit. You will have to call your Grandma to find out.

The answer was the same from her Grandma; my Mother did that. The good news is her Mother was still alive and had her wits about her. She asked her great-grandmother why she always cut the brisket in half before putting it in the pot.

Her great-grandma said we lived in a tiny apartment with a tiny oven, so the only way we could fit the brisket in the oven was to cut it in half to fit in a small pot for the little oven.

Understanding history is essential, but realizing it might not apply to today’s world is an entirely different realization.