The Solicitor Who Stole My Heart

My heart sank as the boy, about fourteen years of age, stood at my door step. English wasn’t his first language, but he spoke passionately and clearly. His solicitation was lacking neither in rehearsal nor genuine effort.

My heart sank again. As it turns out, every sale of these superfluous magazine subscriptions would go to a program at his high school, South Gate High School. South Gate is the alma mater of one of my best childhood friends, who was one of the few to “make it out of the hood”. Would this kid make it out? Does he know how harsh the world is going to be on him when he grows up? I didn’t buy any magazines, but I donated. I had to. He killed it. In his vulnerability throughout his pitch, I thought two things:

1. Mathematically, he likely won’t make it out, and

2. at his age I could never have been as courageous as he was being on my doorstep.

Not thinking it was possible, my heart sank again. While my donation didn’t include any magazine subscriptions, he did give me some coupons. The coupon card, with tear away discount squares for “10% off” and a “free drink” here and there, was good mostly at fast-food joints like Subway, Pizza Hut, and Mrs. Fields Cookies. My heart sank the moment he thoughtfully tried to bolster my view of the modest prize when he said, “And, you can use this for all these restaurants, which is cool. Like, there’s different types of restaurants. Not just one, you know?”

Restaurants? In my little world, I’d never categorized these awful places as restaurants. My bubble has made me too discerning and judgmental for that. For him, these were certifiable dining experiences. I’m not sure who’s made the bigger mistake here.

An argument can be made that your worldview regarding food has more impact on your health than you could ever imagine. Even the idea of taking on specific diets seems silly with a worldview that considers Subway a viable choice for food. Obviously, we’ve got miles to go before American health and nutrition even approaches a mental model of nutrition that gives us a dying chance.

What’s in this for you, whoever you are, is a message not to avoid cookies or horribly foreign excuses for sub-sandwiches, but a call for perspective. What would you consider a viable food choice? Does all food count? Must it be organic? Do your vegetables need to grown within ten miles of your house? Should you know your rancher by name? Or, is there some place in between here and calling for a reservation at Subway?

Your perspective informs everything you do when it comes to nutrition. Personally, I believe both generally healthy and generally unhealthy people can fire down a pizza from Pizza Hut. The difference between the two, however, is likely that the latter might think she just ate dinner while the former wouldn’t consider the pizza a real meal.

 

Logan Gelbrich

@functionalcoach