Rewind.
The view from the 34th floor is spectacular. The Columbus, Ohio skyline shimmers in the afternoon sun. Bowls of snacks and bottles of water span the intimidatingly long boardroom table. It is comfortable. The mood is perfect. This is the moment of truth.
“Do you know how many children in this city are undernourished by baby formula? Well…DO YOU?!”
Nobody knows.
The handsome man with the chiseled butt chin wears a stern look, pauses, and continues.
“It isn’t…natural.” Another pause for effect. “It doesn’t….SATISFY. It doesn’t satisfy the body and it doesn’t satisfy the mind.”
A few nod curiously. One rubs his chin in thought.
“Are we going to sit back here in this building…in this room…and NOT give the children of Columbus every chance that we can to get ahead in this life? Change doesn’t start from the bottom up, my friends…it starts with us.”
A few grunts let the speaker know he’s striking the right note.
“We have a message for the people…so let’s take it to them. They need to know…they need to feel…that Breast. Milk. SATISFIES!”
The man walks over to an easel in the corner of the room. Until now it has been covered with a black sheet. He can feel a heightened sense of anxiousness in the room as he raises his hand to the upper right corner. He pauses. A few inch forward in their seats…straining to see what is hidden from view. The pause is long…almost too long…but right before…right before people begin to lose interest he yanks away the sheet to reveal what is underneath.
A gasp. Nobody moves. A few jaws drop. A woman slowly raises her hand to her mouth.
Did I lose them? He wonders. Is it too much?
Silence.
And then…a single clap. It shatters the air and just as the silence begins to refill the void as water refills a stomped-in rain puddle another clap splashes through the air. And then another…and another. The man in the back is slowly standing now.
It begins to spread. Straight faces break into on grins. More hands come together. Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap Clap ClapClapClapClap. It is almost a chant. Grins break into smiles. One by one they all begin to rise to their feet. Somebody gives the “slow point” between claps. Another pauses for an extra long thumbs up. A third winks and mouths “yeah it does!” and then adds a "way to go!"
It’s full-on applause now. The presenter smiles, breathes deep and nods. This…this is what it’s all about….
HONK! HONK!
The car horn yanks me from the boardroom and slams me back on the sidewalk in front of the bus stop just down the street from my hotel in Columbus, Ohio. People are still walking by chatting on cell phones, adjusting sunglasses, and applying make-up.
Are you kidding me? I wonder. Am I the only one that sees this?
The only person who notices me is a black toddler…milk dripping from his face as he blankly stares back at me.
I would wonder how on earth he got there…but I already know.
Bus stop ad courtesy of the Ohio Dept. of Health.
Don't think I was actually there? I was.