Sliced bread was literally made to e toasted. In essence, I see now, each individual slice of American bread carries within itself the seeds of its own redemption. Just as every American child may grow to be President, so does every slice of bread, no matter how airy, white and characterless, offer the golden promise of toast. To toast, then, is to ritually re-enact, daily and in miniature, the American dream itself. It is as if, by toasting, we ourselves might be toasted.
Toast thus serves as a talismanic reminder of human potential.
To the Willy Lomans and Ralph Kramdens of the world, destined as they are to ashen lives, an encounter with toast can never be more than a tragic experience. To the rest of us, it is a call to arms. The bell sounds, the toast springs up, the scnt of a golden future wafts before us like an omen. Time now to go to work.