I'm out to lunch

"Your day might only be as good as your lunch."

I say that line a lot nowadays because, who knows, it might be true. Euros seem to live by that, and we Americans don't. We typically give our lunches away to do more work. Why?

We eat at our desks. We eat alone. We rush our lunches. We take this for granted that this is how it's supposed to be. It's a tough existence — especially if our day is indeed only as good as our lunch.

I have started my third year that I've been taking my time to have a worthwhile lunch. I wish I had done this earlier, but my priorities were different. I figured why have a break in the middle of the day, when I could arrive at work later or leave earlier?

Perhaps I refused to consider the value of lunch because I didn't see many people doing that. They rushed their lunch and ate junky food; maybe I was supposed to do the same. Plus, as a teacher, you just don't have enough time to enjoy lunch. At my school, we have 30 minutes for lunch without a passing period. So, it's really just 25 minutes — that's a rushed lunch. 

I have requested the period off before lunch and haven't gotten it. Instead, I have been given one between 10:55 and 11:50 for three straight years. It's not perfect, but I can make that work for lunch.

What I like to do is go to Regional Park in Cerritos, minutes from my school but a drive, do a manmade walking path by a manmade lake and fountains (inherently manmade). I then eat my lunch at a picnic bench in the shade with pickleball courts next to me. Sometimes, I mix up the path and location to surprise myself.

Unfortunately, the heat has been so scorching this year, that I've only done a walking path once. Soon, the daily walks will be coming, and my lunchtime will get even better. Perhaps, needless to say, I do this alone because I assume other teachers do not have time for such folly.

But is it really folly?

How am I living in a world in which having a good lunch is less meaningful than doing extra work or scrolling on a phone? Plus, aren't we even more productive if we're well-rested and well-nourished? I guess it goes back to our overboard consumer culture, and I wonder if anything exemplifies that more than the NFL.

As we begin September and as the NFL season looms, I wonder: What are we doing when we watch the NFL? What are we doing when we watch the Super Bowl? I see a clear connection between the mindless lunches and mindless consumption of the NFL.

An easy argument could be made that we are simply celebrating mindless consumer culture or even celebrating frivolous violence. I don't think we reflect much on consuming the NFL. I don't think we're even aware what we're doing. It's kind of like scrolling — mindless.

I guess my point is that I want to be more aware of my consumption, especially in regards to the food and sports I devour. Perhaps ironically for the age we live in, but my digital consumption is pretty good. While I am a daily Pokemon Go player, I don't scroll or ever go on social media for more than five minutes in a day. I'll take it.

With food, though, I've eaten pretty poorly this past summer. I traveled a bit in the United States, and I guess that means the food isn't going to be too healthy. At home, I'm going to do more specific meal planning and tighten it up when it comes to eating over-processed foods.

With my sports consumption, I will remain an ardent Cleveland Guardians fanatic and watch, or listen, to them pretty much every day, whenever we can.  I'm fine with that. I got to not fall into the trap of watching the NFL just because it's on.

So, am I ready for some football? Am I ready for some action? Uh, not really. But I am ready for nice meals with real food, as opposed to food products, if that's possible. I'd like to enjoy my lunches and continue to take time with them.

As human beings, I'm pretty sure we need to eat lunch, and I say enough is enough with rushing through it. As Mae West once said, "Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly."