Hope is Like BBQ Ribs – Connected

The very name, ribs, says a lot. You don’t order a rib, you order ribs. Whether it’s at the meat market or at a restaurant. It’s always ribs.

Plural. Period.

No one orders a rib. Just like no one orders a chicken wing, no one orders a rib. It’s always more than one. It’s always plural. There is always more than one.

Ribs come into being as a community. There are always ribs, they are always a community. Not only are they together in the animal, but they are also cooked together, come to the table together. You don’t think about a single rib, you always think of them together, as a bunch of ribs. A slab of ribs. A mess of ribs.

Chicken wings aren’t like that. Yes, you get wings, plural, but they are individual wings. Always have been, always will be. They just make a pile on your plate.

But ribs are different. Unlike a heap of chicken wings that just sort of sits there, ribs are;

• Side by side with one another.

• Support one another.

• Stand together with one another.

Ribs are there for one another. They’ve never known anything else. Their entire existence, their entire life has been as a community, as a group, as a whole.

Hope is like that too. To have hope, you need to have other people standing side by side with you. You need people supporting you. You need people to stand together with you.

But it’s not a one-way relationship. To give hope, you need to be with other people, side by side with them. You need to be supporting people. You need to stand together with people.

Starting today, be like ribs with the people around you. Lining up with them, giving help, support, and hope.