When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade...

Back in the 1960's my father planted a lemon tree. Of course, he never expected much as he lived in a state with bad winters and it was in a pot. Over the years the tree grew, not to a giant lemon tree but to a pygmy planted in it's pot. For years it would be moved from indoors to outdoors for the winters and summers. Eventually, I ended up with the tree. It has been living in a pot in my backyard for several years now.

Recently it began having some pest issues, and I made the decision to make it and indoor tree. For the last several months it has been living in my parlor with lots of sun exposure and producing lemons like crazy! Had it not been planted by my father, it surely would have been just planted in the ground long ago, but this one is special to me.

I have a couple citrus trees in my backyard, one I recently put through the torture of grafting lemons and oranges onto a lime tree. It's one ugly duckling and probably will be for years. Eventually it will grow out and produce all three fruits on one tree. However, I will probably be long gone and I hope the owner truly enjoys the efforts I made to make this special tree.

While ugly ducklings may not be visually appealing, it doesn't mean they have no value. Recently, at the Oscar Awards, disfigured actor Adam Pearson was in attendance. Shortly after comedian Danny Polishchuk went on X and tweeted: "Me and the boys after taking Chinese Peptides for 5 years." This refers to not only the unreliability of Chinese pharmaceuticals, but insults the appearance of Pearson which is completely inappropriate.

Adam Pearson

I come from a medical background and understand very well the genetics behind various deformities. Pearson suffers from Neurofibromatosis Type 1 which causes nerve cells to create benign tumors which can be very disfiguring. The oddest part about his condition is that he is one of a pair of identical twins born London, England in 1985. While Adam has become extremely affected by the disease his twin has Neil has not. They share the same DNA, but for some reason it has been expressed more strongly in Adam.

thechronicle.com.au

When born the two were identical, but now you can see the dramatic differences that have developed between the two. Why had one been affected so severely and the other so mildly? Something we don't understand, and that should tell you just how little we truly understand about genetics. For all we have learned over the last 40 years, we have just touched the tip of the iceberg and we have so much more to discover.

caracoltv.com

What is so inspiring about this story is that Pearson has decided to become an advocate for those who are disfigured. Not only has he become an actor but pursues causes to help people understand that intellectually they are just like you and me despite their physical differences. Will Pearson ever replace Brad Pitt in a starring role? Of course not, because as a society we tend to be uncomfortable of those who are different. I believe this is something in our genetics, maybe to prevent propagation of genes that are defective. However, it isn't right.

One of the most famous disfigured people of all time was Joseph Merrick, often called the Elephant Man. Although horribly disfigured he was intellectually normal, but people treated him as garbage because he looked different. Sadly, to this day we don't know what caused Merrick's deformities as his bones were bleached after autopsy destroying the DNA. What is even more sad is they are kept in a museum until this day and never received a Christian burial he would have desired. To add insult to injury Michael Jackson once unsuccessfully tried to buy his remains...

At any rate, we should be careful not to shun those who are different in my opinion. Just imagine if we had ignored Stephen Hawking? His discoveries helped us understand black holes even though confined to a wheel chair and unable to speak. We could lose so much if we ignore those who are different, and need to change our perceptions of others, although it may be hard to do.

Whenever you may feel sorry for yourself, just remember there is someone who has things much worse. Make the best of what you have, because life is very short. To quote the movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", it's good to remember "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

That will do it for me today, sorry if I sound preachy! I do thank you for all of your support and please feel free to leave any comments or questions below. Have a great day everyone!

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Pearson_(actor)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Merrick

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferris_Bueller's_Day_Off

Disclaimer

I am not a financial planner and this isn't financial advice. Please always do your own research before investing your money. You worked hard enough to earn it!