I was stocking a shelf with bread when the older man walked up carrying a loaf of bread.
"Does your bread company make this bread?" He asked.
"No," I replied.
"Who makes it?" he persisted.
And I told him the name of the company which produced that bread.
"It is the best bread on the market!" he announced.
"You think so?" I countered.
"Absolutely!" he affirmed, and went on to explain why.
None of his reasons included texture, or taste, or any ingredients which were beneficial for health. Instead, they were a litany of all that this bread did not have. "It has no sugar; it has no cholesterol," he said. And on and on he went.
When he ceased his in-store bread commercial, I replied, "The same could be said of cardboard." His eyes opened wide and his mouth opened up, and he laughed. He couldn't help it. After a few minutes of laughter, he told me, "I oughta shoot you!" And then, he laughed some more. Five minutes later, as I continued to put up my bread, he returned to tell me that I had "made his day," and that he was going to call me the "Cardboard Breadman."
Two thoughts come to mind. First, it is amazing how a bit of humor can be so beneficial to those we meet daily, if we will only not take ourselves too seriously. And second? That poor man will never again be able to eat his favorite bread without thinking of cardboard.
And so, the Cardboard Breadman was born. I've discovered that when people look at life through a different set of lenses, they often find a different way in which to view reality. I hope my sad thoughts make you cry; in order to help wounds heal; my whimsical thoughts make you laugh; to lighten your spirits; and most of all, I hope all my thoughts prompt you to think. For it is only then, when you may discover that reality is not always what you think it is.
Monty Caldwell
The Cardboard Breadman