“Last night,” I said to the preteens sitting in front of me, “I went to the grocery store and bought ONE breast of chicken. I had to go to the meat counter to buy just one, because otherwise you have to buy a package of three. Then, I took that ONE breast of chicken home and chopped it into three pieces. I put the three pieces into three different plastic bags and put the bags in the refrigerator. This morning, nice and early, I got up, took the chicken out of the bags and cooked them on the grill. The neighbors must have wondered why anybody was grilling at 5:30am. Anyway, here, now, sitting on these three plates, are the three different parts of the same chicken breast. Let’s examine them.”
Each of the three plates in front of the audience had the three parts of the chicken breast that I had cooked. However, there were some real differences between the chicken on each plate, which a couple of volunteers were invited to come discover and report. The chicken thirds all had very distinct colors, textures, smells, and even tastes. “How can this be?” I asked. “It’s the same chicken breast…why would the three parts look, feel, smell, and taste so completely different?”
It took the preteens a while to figure it out (longer than I expected, actually) but they finally figured out why each plate contained such differences. They realized that each plastic bag had something different in it…so overnight, the chicken parts marinated in something different. One had marinated in a deliciously sweet marinade that the grocer recommended. One bag had nothing but air. And the third chicken piece had marinated all night in pure vinegar (by the way, this one tasted absolutely disgusting and had the texture of rubber).
This was such a memorable and powerful way to talk about influence, about how the music, television, friends, books, etc. that we surround ourselves can have a dramatic affect on us. How the stuff we are “marinating in” can soak into our being and affect us deeply, either for good or bad.
Now, who’s hungry for some grilled chicken?!
