He told a story of a family gathering in some out-of-the-way home one holiday. A young girl was in the kitchen watching her mother help with the cooking. Her mom was fixing the ham. She watched her chop off half of it and throw it away before placing the remaining part into the oven.
The child asked, “Mama, why did you cut half the ham and throw it away?”Rules were made for man, not the other way around. It’s never too late to start asking questions. The ones you believe know the answers may be clueless.
“Well, honey. That’s how my mama taught me,” replied the mother.
“But why did she make you do that?”
The mother paused for thought. “Hmm. I really don’t know, sugar. You’ll have to ask your Grandma.”
So the child went to see her grandma, who was sitting on the couch sipping tea.
“Grandma. I asked mama why she cuts off half the ham and throws it away, and cooks the rest, and she said she didn’t know, and that I had to ask you.”
“Well, baby. I learned that from my mama and I don’t know why we did it. We just did it. Go ask your Great Grandma.” So the child went upstairs to where the Great Grandma slept.
She whispered to the Great Grandma and she woke.
“Great Grandma. I asked my mama why she cuts half the ham off before she puts it in the oven and she told me to ask Grandma. I asked Grandma and she said to ask you. So now I'm asking you. Do you know why everybody cuts off half the ham before cooking it?”
“Well sure I know, baby. See, when I was little we had a small stove. We couldn’t fit no big ham into the baking pan and we didn’t have no refrigerator neither. So my mama had to chop off the end of the ham and throw the rest of it away.”
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