Local view: What it means to call someone 'the salt of the earth'
Recently, when Gerry and I were going to meet a distant relative, our cousin told us, "You'll like him. He's the salt of the earth."
That sounded like a good compliment, but not a usual description. Usually, a person would describe someone as shy, outgoing, reserved, friendly, talkative, loud, quiet, etc. "Salt of the earth" paints a different kind of picture. The unusual description of the new relative motivated me to research salt to see why that term would be used to describe someone as "the salt of the earth."
First of all, I learned that we couldn't live without salt. It's an essential ingredient for our body to function properly. Research shows that we need a small amount, 500 milligrams a day. We need salt to maintain a proper balance of water and minerals in our bodies, to conduct nerve impulses, to contract and relax muscles. But, information cautions us to not overload with salt! Too much can cause health problems. Salt, like everything in life, needs a good balance.
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Besides being vital for bodily functions, salt is used in the making of many products – leather, paper, plastics, pharmaceuticals, clothing, rubber, cosmetics, on and on, and also something New Englanders need for winter safety – salt for the roads and to de-ice our walkways.
Salt is very common. Seventy percent of our world is covered with salt water. Salt is on dining tables at home and in restaurants to enhance the flavor of our food. It also can act as a preservative to keep food from spoiling. It can be healing when applied to wounds. I remember my mother having me gargle with salt water when I had a sore throat. Gerry said salt water dried-up his poison ivy when he went to the beach. The Romans recognized its value and used it as money to pay workers at a time when salt was not readily available. Have you heard someone say, "He's worth his salt?" It means he's a good worker, worth the salary he's paid.
Salt is essential, but we do not value it like gold
Yes, salt is very valuable, but we don't place it in a valuable category. Gold we do place in a valuable category, but think about it, we could live without gold, we couldn't live without salt. We must not underestimate and take for granted the value of the common everyday things in our lives that would be hard to live without.
All of this information made me think more deeply about the value of salt and how a person described using that term would be someone worthy of high esteem, someone to be valued.
The term "salt of the earth" first appeared in the Bible. Jesus used it to describe his apostles and we all know what good people they were. And, they were ordinary people, fishermen and laborers.
A salt-of-the-earth person is anyone who is good and honest, a person who treats others with kindness, respect and patience, a person who cares for others, and does good deeds without expectation of something in return.
Just as salt adds flavor to food, salt-of-the-earth people add good flavor wherever they go and they draw out the good flavor of the people they are interacting with. Their words and actions are flavored with salt. A salt-of-the-earth person makes the world "taste" better.
We are all like salt shakers. Salt in its shaker does no good. We have to shake it out to bring out the best flavors we can everywhere we go. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the world were populated with people who are the salt of the earth?
I like that description for a person who fits it. We have friends who could be described that way and I think I'll start using that term.
Warmth and welcoming hospitality greeted us when we met our new relative. We felt his salt-of-the-earth personality right away. We had a wonderful visit, and we hope it was the first of many. Our cousin was right, we do like him.
Carole Gariepy is a Phillipston resident and author of “Dragging Gerry around the World” and “Why Go There?”
This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Salt needed for nerve impulses, contract and relax muscles, safe roads
