The Lemonade Stand

One stop on the road to freedom

A few weeks ago on a very hot evening my wife and I with our one year old son were headed to church for family night. On our way we passed a neighborhood lemonade stand being run by three small children with their parents standing close by. I slowed down and asked my wife if we should turn around and get some lemonade. She didn’t want any but said we should if I wanted some. So we turned around in a driveway up the road and went back to the stand. As I got out of the car I could see the children smiling as they realized they were about to make a sale. I walked up to the lemonade stand and asked how much. “Fifty cents” is all the very bashful little girl with ponytails behind the table said as she tried hard to look me in the eyes. I told her I would like one cup with lots of ice. Smiling real big she carefully filled my cup with ice and poured me some of the best homemade lemonade I’ve had in years. I gave her a dollar and told her to keep the change. Before I left though I said; “Stick with capitalism, it pays.” Walking back to the car I looked back and could see their father beaming.

Until then I had never really thought much about lemonade stands or the little steps one might take in life that lead them to eventually owning a business. I am a new small business owner now but come to think of it I always have been. When I was a little kid I shoveled snow all winter. I had a sled with a bag of rock salt, an ice scraper, an ice spike for breaking up thick ice and a snow shovel. I would pull my weighted down sled all over the neighborhood at five in the morning to catch people before they went to work. I even had several businesses around town that I would service every day. I was just a little kid trying to make an honest buck. And I did pretty well too. During the summers I would hand out fliers for local businesses and mow lawns. It should be no surprise then that now as an adult I own and operate a small web development company. It’s just a grown up version of what I started doing when I was eight.

So the next time you see a little kid with a lemonade stand, handing out flyers, raking leaves or whatever it may be let them know what a great job they’re doing by becoming their customer. It will put a smile on their face and help show them a road to a life of success. It may even make you feel better about yourself too.              

Feel free to comment however you see fit on this and any post on this site. I am really interested in hearing about how you have influenced a future capitalist or how you got started in business yourself.

Taps

Sleep well Tonight

Taps is perhaps the most solemn of our patriotic songs. Also known as “Butterfield’s Lullaby” or as “Day is Done” the tune of Taps is actually a variation of an earlier bugle call known as the “Scott Tattoo.” Around 1860 Taps was arranged in its present form by Union Army, Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield to replace a previous French bugle call used for lights out. Hence the name Butterfield’s Lullaby. Interestingly both the Union and Confederate forces used Taps as their signal for lights out throughout the Civil War. To this day Taps is played every evening as a signal for end of day or lights out on non-deployed military installations. Taps is also played at military funerals, flag ceremonies and at each of the 2500 military wreath hanging ceremonies conducted each year at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. So sit back and enjoy the rich and somber sound of the bugler playing one of our nations oldest and most revered patriotic songs. Warning!! This version of Taps although beautiful does not conform to Army Regulation 220-90 Paragraph 2-5h(1) where it states the following: “Echo Taps” or “Silver Taps,” the practice of performing “Taps” with multiple buglers, is not authorized. “Echo Taps” is not a part of Army tradition and improperly uses bugler assets.    

"Taps"

Day is done
Gone the sun
From the Lakes
From the hills
From the sky.
All is well,
Safely rest.
God is nigh.
Fading light
Dims the sight
And a star
Gems the sky,
Gleaming bright
From afar,
Drawing nigh,
Falls the night.
Thanks and praise,
For our days,
Neath the sun,
Neath the stars,
Neath the sky,
As we go,
This we know,
God is nigh.

I hope you will leave your comments as you see fit. And remember our fallen soldiers next time you hear this wonderful song.

Open Your Eyes

And know the things that are important


I don’t normally write about my faith on this blog because I don’t want people to think they need to share my theological beliefs in order to benefit from living life as a responsible activist. But from time to time my pastor shares a story that fits so well into the concept of responsible activism that I must share it with you. This last week’s sermon was one such time.

He first read and talked about Luke 17:11-19 where we learned how on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus met and healed ten lepers. The lepers stood off from a distance and yelled “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” Upon hearing them Jesus told the lepers to go prove to the priests that they were clean. As the lepers turned in faith to go prove their cleanliness unto the priests they were healed. Only one former leper upon realizing he was healed turned back to glorify God and give thanks for what Jesus had done for him.    

My pastor then told us about some of his experiences in Operation Desert Storm as a US Army Chaplin. He described how while the families of those serving overseas are left at home to worry over and pray for their loved ones in harm’s way, every soldier so far away does the same for family they left behind. He shared how hard it is on most soldiers to be away from their family, and how utterly helpless they feel not knowing if they are ok or how their children might be dealing without mom or dad for so long. Because of all this, war often becomes a time of becoming closer to God. In all the horrible things that make up war my pastor was privileged, honored and humbled to have a full tent every Sunday and to see so many young soldiers profess their faith to God. Many of those soldiers were even baptized out there in the sand having all their sins washed away and in a very real way were reborn in a loving personal relationship with their God and savior.

Lastly our pastor described the wonderful relief and happiness everyone felt when the war ended so quickly and everyone could go home. Spirits were high as everybody high fived and joked around while they readied themselves and their equipment for what seemed a short ride home. There was an almost festiveness in the air as everyone rushed to be the first ready to depart. As their Chaplin, my pastor decided to give one more sermon in the sand. They would thank God for all his guidance and protection, they would praise God for looking after their families, and they would exalt God for allowing a war expected to last so much longer and with many casualties to end so soon and with but a few fallen. But it was a sad day for my pastor as he gave this last sermon. His tent was not full as was normal. Only a small percentage of those who attended regularly just the week before were in attendance.

As a former soldier who later served in the same region I can attest to the truth of his observations. I saw a very similar set of events unravel when coming home from Operation Iraqi Freedom. Now as a man I must admit that I was One of the Nine. In my happiness and relief I turned my back and forgot who it was that protected me. I left God in the sand as easily as spitting out a piece of bitter fruit. I abandoned Him as though He was never needed.   

Why do you think I would share this set of stories on a blog about responsible activism? What parallels can we make? I told you in the beginning that it would fit very well with the concept of responsible activism. It does. You see God isn’t the only thing we tend to forget when times are good and worries are few. God isn’t the only thing we cast to the side when our need isn’t so obvious. Why do you think there are so many more people being politically active right now? Why is it that the Tea Party, so many independent groups of regular citizens and lone individuals alike, are making their voices heard for the first time? It is because they see the need. They understand that by remaining neutral they risk watching the dream that is America drift away piece by piece until all is lost or unrecognizable. But why is it that our country finds itself in such a condition? Why must we fight to maintain our greatness and our freedoms? Why are we just now reacting to a situation that took decades to happen? It is because all those people you see getting involved now were complacent when times were good. They were too worried about what was on TV or what Britney did last week to see the world around them. They were too preoccupied living the dream to see the nightmare forming in their midst. And they were too blind to care what Washington was doing and becoming. So was I.

I challenge you to do all you can to be the best example of responsible activism. I challenge you to never give up on our country. And I challenge you to never again forget.   


Feel free to leave any comments about this post you like. I really enjoy hearing what you have to say. As always I am also up for any criticisms you may have as well.