Stepping in Horse Dung: Stories from the Old Country
During my family vacation at the beach last week, my dad was telling us stories about our family history. He told us about how our relatives left the Old Country and arrived in America with nothing and somehow started a life against the odds. He told us one particular story about my great-grandma Jennie (my mom’s grandmother) that was hard to believe. When she lived in Russia, she had to walk outside in the freezing cold without shoes. In order to keep her feet warm while walking, she would step in horse dung. Yes, you read it right. My great-grandma Jennie intentionally sought out horse dung to keep her bare feet warm in intolerable conditions.
We all sat there tongue tied and looked at each other. Hadn’t we just complained about the sand and the humidity and how watery the keurig coffee was? We laughed in discomfort. How could we let things like that bother us when our great-grandmother searched out dung to keep her feet warm? It was unfathomable.
Grandma Jennie was someone I have heard about a lot. I have vague memories of drawing pictures for her when my mom brought me to visit. I cannot believe she once had to live in such poverty and horrible conditions (not to mention the constant fear she and her family endured as Jews in a country that killed Jews for sport). My great-grandma Jennie was beloved. Sweet and kind. She managed to have an open and loving heart despite her pain and suffering. I have so much respect for her knowing that she was able to see goodness and share kindness after experiencing so much pain.
The stories my dad told about my relatives escaping such harsh conditions to come to America makes me feel all the more connected to the desperate stories immigrants are experiencing in America right now. Where people have to fear masked ICE agents and Alligator Alcatraz and deportations to a prison in El Salvador.
We will often not be aware of the pain and suffering people have had to go through. How much dung they have had to step in to get where they are now. Many of us need to embrace our own messy stories. The world can be a harsh place and you may find safety and survival in unexpected ways.
