One time, as I was preparing bun-length hot dogs for the kids, three thoughts occurred to me:
1. Why in the world would anyone choose to buy hot dogs that are too short for the bun?
2. When did the bun-length hot dog come into existence?
3. Why was there ever a time when hot dogs were too short for the bun in the first place?
On the first point, my extensive internet research determined that normal hot dogs are 4.8 inches long while bun-length dogs are 6 inches. Apparently, some people like shorter hot dogs to allow “spill-over” room for their toppings on the bun. While I can certainly respect that, personally I’m not sure I get it. Nobody desires “spill-over” room on a hamburger. If there is a bun, please fill that real estate with meat please.
Secondly, it seems the bun-length hot dog was introduced by Oscar Meyer in 1987. You can see the commercial HERE. Just add this to the list of amazing things that came out of the 1980s (the mullet, Trapper Keepers and Alf are also on this list).
And finally, why was there EVER a time when hot dogs were too short for the bun in the first place? This one defies explanation. I could not find a satisfactory answer. As far as I can tell, there really isn’t a good reason.
I, along with many of you, dream of a day not too far into the future, when we will look back and ask a couple of questions:
- Why was there ever a time when a kid first came into care that there weren’t several foster homes from our local churches for the worker to choose from?
- Why was there ever a time in a land of 300,000 churches that we had 100,000 kids who needed adoptive families?
At that time there will be families waiting for children and not the other way around. Not only that, but the Church will be providing all kinds of support for at-risk families who are trying to stay together and get back together and the face of our foster care system will be totally transformed.
We will look back, ask these questions, recognize that there is not satisfactory answer, but celebrate that things have changed.
A version of this post previously appeared in our Foster Roster e-newsletter which is delivered each Friday. We keep it short and sweet and fill it with practical articles, videos, blog posts and other tools for leaders like you working to help kids and families in foster care. To sign up, go to http://bit.ly/1rwn6eO.