Feeding the town

Today was the last day of camp. We cooked food for all the students and children who attended and also their parents. It was a family day. After communion and a wonderful closing everyone came to get lunch. I felt like we were feeding the town. I asked why we packed more than 250 boxes, we need more they said. I thought 250 was plenty. People lined up across the dining room leading a sloppy line to the kitchen gate. Boxes lay stacked on the counter, from front to pack piles of 4, two long rows. We distributed food and soda. Lines got crowded, people. We have to feed the camp attendees we tell them, wait wait. People started yelling and demanding. The director sit in the back and smiled. 250 was definitely not enough. We tried to control the crowd. I gave up trying to make one line. The people were still civil. I wonder how many meals they had to eat that week. I wonder how many of them were parents of the students and what the other people were in relation to them. Nobody grabbed food and ran. It was foreplay to a riot, but not riot. If you treat people like animals they will be animals. If you treat people like people they will stay people.