This Tastes Like Magic
“In short, oddities only strike ordinary people. Oddities do not strike odd people. This is why ordinary people have a much more exciting time; while odd people are always complaining of the dullness of life. This is also why the new novels die so quickly, and why the old fairytales endure forever…The fairytale discusses what a sane man will do in a mad world. The sober realistic novel of today discusses what an essential lunatic will do in a dull world” (Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton, 2001, p12-13).
We live in a mad world. A crazy world. At our family dinner, if a meal is particularly amazing (thanks to my talented wife), my kids know I’ll probably say something like, “This tastes like magic.”
And I’m not being silly. Chickens turn bugs and grains into balls of protein. Cows turn grass into steak, butter, cheese, and ice cream. Grass and grains use photosynthesis to turn air into something the chickens and cows can eat.
Without even knowing me, a farmer loved me enough to care for his chickens and cows. A trucker loved me enough to drive that food to where it would be processed, and then to drive it to the grocery store. And my wife loved me enough to study and learn the best way to buy and prepare all that food—so that it tastes amazing.
The lunatic is crazy enough to think these things have all been thoroughly understood and explained in the textbooks. The lunatic is crazy enough to think that everything I just described (plus so much more that I left out!) is dull.
Only the sane and ordinary man can see the world with wonder.
What do you think?
Joseph