Lemons and Cowboy Boots

Lemons & Cowboy Boots

By Inspirational Diva Allison Bell

Recently I went with 30 or so people from my church to head to downtown Phoenix to feed the homeless. Instead volunteering at a soup kitchen, we actually brought 5 grills and started to grill hamburgers & hot dogs on a popular street corner for homeless people.

With in 20 minutes of our arrival, a line of hundreds of people formed around the corner to line up for food. The first thing to go was the candy. "I like the red Jolly Ranchers" people would tell me as they were digging through the boxes diligently searching for more "reds". The dum-dum suckers were also a huge hit.

As the first few rounds of patties started cooking on the grill, we had handed out all the apples and oranges. After about an hour the only fruit left was lemons. I walked up and down the line of 400+ people with a smile on my face and asked if anyone would like a lemon. "What am I going to do with that," a tall black man said. In my personal rebuttal I responded by saying "I think lemons are better than oranges". We laughed and he suggested next time we bring along some sugar and make some lemonade. He reminded me of the great colloquialism – When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.

Along with bringing the food, we also brought several trash bags of clothes to hand out as well. The socks were the first to go, the T-shirts second. After 5 hours, everything was gone, except a pair of old cowboy boots. I couldn’t help but laugh. Both boots turned on their side, so lonely on the side walk. What were the reasons for no one taking the boots? It’s 2006 and people don’t wear boots anymore? Wrong size? In my mind I imagined someone saying "I might be homeless, but no thanks..."

In all my life, I assumed if I was ever in a situation where I was starving on the streets living homeless I thought you would take anything to survive on – in this case lemons or cowboy boots. I was reminded of dignity that we hold as adults. At the end of the day, all we have is our individuality – our likes and dislikes, our lemons and our oranges, our socks and our cowboy boots.

The experience taught me that you can strip me of my material possessions in life, but you can’t strip me - from me. Embrace your dignity. Remember to Embrace Today – for we are never guaranteed tomorrow.

For more information on Inspirational Diva Allison Bell or Embrace Today Concepts, please visit www.EmbraceTodayConcepts.com or www.InspirationalDiva.com.
2006 Copyright© Embrace Today Concepts, Inc