The hidden beauty of school lunches

I write a lot about positive thinking. Reshape your thoughts. Rethink your life. People ask, “Does it really make a difference?”

Yes, it does. If it didn’t, I wouldn’t keep writing about it. And there’s no better way to illustrate my point than through the beauty of school lunches.

I worked in a school. Not one of those progressive schools with their own garden & photogenic plates of food. My school served frozen everything, overboiled & heavily salted. Sometimes the spaghetti sauce had so much sugar it was closer to dessert than lunch.

The students complained about the food, loud and daily. I could have agreed. Some days my lunch was pints of milk and hope someone left a snack in the breakroom. But do you know what I told my students?

I don’t cook it. I don’t clean the dishes. I don’t pay for it. To me, that’s a good meal. Truth be told, I got paid to eat a free lunch. Score!

I never tried to convince the kids the meal deserved its own Food Network show. But it also wasn’t as bad as they made it out to be. Like most of life, it was somewhere in the middle.

Even if I did validate their complaints, what good would it have done? It would have soured an already poor experience, and who needs that? If there’s one thing worse than eating lousy food, it’s being in a lousy mood while you are eating it. The cafeteria staff did the best with what they were given. I could bring my own lunch. I had no right to complain.

Furthermore, I have a hard time cooking for a family of 4. I would never dream of preparing lunch and dinner every day for over 250 people.   

I’m not sure how many kids understood my message, but my attitude made my lunch time more enjoyable.

Being positive is not about denying the existence of the negative. It’s about being able to focus on something other than the negative.  

I’ll repeat that because this idea doesn’t get enough attention.

Being positive is not about denying the existence of the negative. It’s about being able to focus on something other than the negative.  

The kids also regularly complained that I was too positive. Did my defense of the lunches play a role in their assessment?

I’m positive it did.

For information on individual counseling, contact me at bradleyjabel@gmail.com.

I'm an LPC and a writer. If you are a mental health professional and need creative consultation for your business literature, contact me.