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October 2009 
Is there such a thing as a "free lunch"?
Posted on Oct 12th, 2009
by 
Balder
Balder
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for October 12, 2009:
Well, it always depends on how you look at it, doesn't it? If pressed, I'd probably have to say no, but since no one's pressing me right now, I'm going to say yes! I'm thinking now of an incident at college that I have never forgotten. I had almost not returned to college that year because I really didn't have the money to afford it, but I didn't want to drop out, so I registered and was just managing to eke by. One place I tried to save money was on food -- I ate mostly from Taco Bell or the "Day Old Bread" store, where I could pick up rolls and pastries for $1. I remember my stomach was beginning to ache, and I was losing energy, no longer enjoying running or working out. I don't remember saying anything to anyone or complaining about this, but someone apparently noticed, because I came home to my dorm one evening and a booklet of meal vouchers was sitting at the foot of my door. It contained 30 or 40 vouchers in it, as I recall, all for full meals at a nice local restaurant. That gesture helped me greatly during that semester at school, and I'm still thankful to the anonymous person or people who were thoughtful enough to give me all those "free lunches."
Access: Public
Thanks for sharing that story. Proof that free lunches do exist.
I think back to my student days of dissolute sybaritism wiv more than a twinge of guilt when I think of your hardship there Bruce….maybe yr post-metaphysical slant on Kosmos precludes any notion of the guiding Invisible Hand…but…well…you know
Jon x
Someone I knew at a dorm in college experienced a similar thing. He had run out of money at a time when some crucial bill had to be paid, creditors were after him, and he was beginning to think he might have to leave school at mid-semester. Out of the blue he received a blank envelope in his mailbox with around $150 dollars in cash. It was enough to pay his bill and tide him over until he got a part-time job. He claimed had never told anyone about his financial problems – and he never found out where that cash came from …
From what I can tell, the whole enchilada is a free lunch….I mean really….Life is a banquet…..of course, my heightened sense of this may be that I am spending day in and out at my new thang…..here at the culinary arts institute.
I am going to see if I can have a free lunch with you, Bruce, sometime mid November when I getting a plane late at night from SFX….
I am glad somebody gave you those vouchers….. I love paying it forward.
Jane
Hey, y'all, thanks for stopping by. I'm since quite well fed, and beginning to show it round the middle. But I'm grateful for that anonymous gesture. (An old friend just emailed me to tell me that the donor was likely my English professor, who has since passed away – too young – from a heart defect. Maybe it was too big…?)
Jane, yes, I'll be happy to offer you a free lunch in November! Call me when you get here. Mary and Jon, why don't you come too? :-) Paying it forward is what it's about.
Love,
B.
While it was free to you Bruce, it was not really free…gol…someone had to pay for it…then again, I love Jane's answer and can really see the relevance of that as well…like you said, depends on how you look at it!
I too am thankful that someone gave it to you when you really needed it! much love and joy*