by Jasmina Getos

The dinner is finally over. We are all fed and our need for food has been satisfied. I leave the table and start removing the eating utensils and larger remains of food. Having removed all that, I begin to clean up the crumbs from the table. You can find all kinds of everything there: from small pieces of meat and parts of pasta to tiny almost unperceivable bits of bread. One of these crumbs occupies my mind.

It 's strange. While we eat, we don't think about bread. It is only addition to other dishes. Yet without it, nothing would be so tasty. It is inevitable part of our nourishment. Even these crumbs are made to satisfy our needs, but accidentally they won't fulfill their goals. No, they won't sooth our hunger; they will end up in the garbage bin. It's a pity. Not only these crumbs will end up there. We often throw away even larger pieces of bread and so many people long for them. How many people starve to death because they can't afford that what we daily throw away. I'm aware of this problem, but I'll continue to do the same with this God's gift as the majority of people do. I'll go on throwing it away. Why? Because it the usual thing to do, because it is the habit which we don't want even to try to change. People and children will go on dying of hunger and we'll be throwing away that treasure which was given to us.

I recall my passing by the bakery every day. I can smell the odor, which brings me back to happy days of my childhood, days, which were careless and cheerful. I remember the smell of my grandmother's bread while she was taking it out of the oven. I enjoyed it so much, the very smell. I was running around my granny till she gave me a hot slice of the «pleasure» just taken out of the oven. The taste of that bread was fantastic. The heat gave it marvelous beauty of taste. That small slice of bread filled me with happiness because it was made with love and by skillful hands of my granny. Today that taste comes back to me only in my memories. The joy of breadcrumbs slowly vanishes. Everyday cares and obligations occupy my mind and my soul again.