Lemons, Life & Many Questions

If life gives you lemon, make lemonade.

Why? What’s wrong with lemons? Why do I have to make lemonade? The way I see it, if life gives you lemons, that’s pretty good because you got yourself some free lemons and why do you have to use them in some way? Life thinks about you and gives you something for free, even after all the irreparable damage we have caused and how hard we’ve seemingly tried to destroy this planet. The idea that we always have to turn lemons into something else seems pretty rude when we look at it in this light. There are times when a lemon would be useful, right? If you were in a desert, would you be picky about where you satiated your thirst from?

I like lemons. And if you don’t like lemons, then how can you like lemonade? I guess you coud add sugar to it but what if life didn’t give you sugar?  And why do you need sugar…oh wait, because you put all those ice cubes in it, watering down its lemony flavour. Wait, where did you get ice? Oh and what if life didn’t give you a glass?

I read somewhere (sorry I forget) and it made me think; this saying is a fitting metaphor for our species’ obsession with consumerism and manufacturing nature into a mass produced package. We get something for free (lemons) from our kind and generous Earth and instead of just using what we need and leaving the rest, we manufacture it and force Earth to make more and more. Well, originally the idea came because we could feed the hungry but why are they hungry in the first place? Our society is based on large-scale agriculture, which reaps huge surplus of food: increasing any given population’s food supply results in a population increase. Doh. Ok, but then we get what we need, population increases, we run out, population dies (just like every other animal in the ecosystem). Nope. Humans took the agricultured land and ‘developed’ it to make room for cities and set up all the mining and deforestation operations that are required to support the mass production industry.

Ok. So the same land that used to give us lemons (for free) can’t support us any longer because you wanted your DAMN lemonade! Our air is polluted, 200 species a day become extinct because of the factories that you need to make aluminium cans and cardboard boxes to package the lemonade? ‘And the Earth is bleeding under the oceans and the ozone layer is being depleted and the ice caps are melting and countries are perpetually bombing each other because of all the petroleum you need to fuel all the trucks and planes you built to transport the lemonade to thousands of corporate distributors worldwide?’

Sometimes sayings become so cliché and I understand that the true meaning is a motivational thing to make something positive when you’re handed something that you don’t like in life. Looking at the bright side is great and of all people, I’m usually the last to say this, but sometimes we should look at the other side. If life gives you lemons, just be thankful you got something.

Bonus (Alternate saying):

When life gives you lemons, be sure to send a hand written thank you note for the lemons, as email thank you notes can appear to be less sincere.

When life gives you lemons suck out all of the vitamin C and yell “EAT THAT, LIFE!

When life gives you lemons ask for salt and tequila!

When life gives you lemons, make orange juice, then wonder how the heck you did it.

When life gives you lemons, collect them one day life will stop and u would have the most lemons ever.

When life hands you lemons make lemonade and find someone else who life handed vodka to, and have a party

When life gives you lemons alter their DNA and make super lemons!!!

When life gives you lemons sell them on ebay,

When life gives you lemons when no one is looking, throw them through life’s window and run away.

When life gives you lemons, squirt the juice in his eye

When life gives you lemons, find a kid with a paper cut

When life gives you lemons, ask for the receipt