1.18.2005 | Salty

"They're the salt of the earth." How many times have you heard this by now trite phrase? Normally rendered as a compliment, it's origins are in Matthew 5:13 (KJV):

13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Salt is one of those staples we take for granted, an essential nutrient now over-used. It is curious to think that salt has been the focus of revolution (in India), or that any imperial power would have been so foolish as to tax something essential (for preserving food in a time before most people had refrigeration) used by virtually all classes.

One who is "the salt of the earth" may be thought of as be common; of no distinction. Jesus clearly thought otherwise. His view was in harmony with the essential nature of salt. As that which preserves, as that which seasons, as that without which life loses, well, its flavor. Mostly, however, as that which helps our fellow men and women to live their lives.