Why Drinking Lemonade Is Going to Save the World

It didn’t really start as a strategy or anything… It was more of an involuntary reflex.  A weird, random reflex.
 
It was toward the beginning of the summer several years ago. Pam and I were out bargain shopping for things for our first house we had just purchased. We found a neighborhood garage sale, and of course I couldn’t resist. As we were driving through the neighborhood looking for a good spot to park, I spotted a couple young children near the sidewalk, holding hand-drawn signs advertising lemonade and cookies and waving eagerly at anyone driving by. Cute America.

As I drove past, the whole scene struck some kind of chord... I drove into a cul-de-sac to turn around, and pulled up to the stand and parked the car. I could tell Pam was a little surprised but supportive of the plan. We both got out, and by the time we walked to the sidewalk, all three sign-holders were neatly lined up behind their stand (a scrap of plywood on top of two 5-gallon buckets) and ready for business, their mom carefully observing from a nearby lawnchair. They politely asked if we wanted some lemonade, already reaching for the cups. We made a little bit of a show out of it, asking how much things were, if they had cookies and what kind/who made them, the whole little bit. We got back into the car with two paper cups of lemonade and two chocolate chip cookies, which in southern Indiana, circa 2012, ran about $1.50

“Thirsty for some lemonade, huh?” Pam teased in that aww-you-were-accidentally-cute voice. In an effort to preserve my tough exterior (which exists only in my mind, by the way), I tried to explain to her that the kids went through all of the trouble of setting it up, and if we could make their day for $1.50 then it was well worth it. Plus, chocolate chip is my favorite.
 
But the more I thought about it, I realized it was a little bit more than that. It’s more than the cute-kid effect, it’s more than nostalgia, and it’s probably even more than “chocolate chips”. The chord that the sign-holders struck was a fundamental one… the same one that’s inspired this project. It’s that one that a lot of us have, the one that pulls us in the “I can create that” or the “I can do this better” or the “I can solve this problem” direction. It’s a fundamental drive in all of us, to do or create something that wasn’t done before, see our accomplishment come to life, and maybe even reap some reward for our effort. To believe and invest in ourselves, to form a vision and strive to turn it into reality.
 
Since that day, I have stopped at lots of lemonade stands… Pam will attest, I stop at every single one I see. It’s important. I think that the spirit that drives us to create and build, to do things for ourselves, and to work hard for results, needs to be encouraged. I think that that spirit is what is and will continue to make our country and society great.
 
We need more of that spirit. Creativity, ingenuity, hard and smart work, and the drive to make something. That’s what this project, and many other projects, is all about. So I’ll keep working, keep pushing, and keep driving the progress forward. And in between, I’ll keep buying lemonade… because lemonade stands might just save the world.