Publisher's Synopsis
My Parable of the Bodega The owner of a corner bodega would sit down and all day and watch people go into a supermarket one block away. This saddened him so much because that store was his last attempt at succeeding at something. For many years he watched the supermarket grow and expand. One day while he was outside his bodega watching people walk in and out of the supermarket, he didn't notice an elderly man walk up to him . He wanted to buy an item which the bodega owner knew he had in his shop. He dashed into the shop quite sure he had the item. However, to his utter dismay, he could not find the item amidst the clutter in his shop and after a couple of minutes came out to inform the old man that he could not find the item. "You seemed sure you had it when i first asked" said the old man. "Yes i thought i did but couldn't find it due to the clutter inside my bodega". "That's unfortunate but maybe you should re-arrange and clean out your shop". He sadly watched the old man walk away towards the supermarket, enter it and re-emerge a few minutes later with the item.We sometimes are like the bodega owner, watching others succeed around us. This gets us to a point of admiration or envy but doesn't allow us to look inward and ask ourselves why we aren't operating at our optimal level. A question that requires that we like the bodega owner re-organise every disorderly item (vice, bad habit or negative emotions) on our life's shelf and clean out our insides without looking down at the size of our shop (gifts, talents, skills and potential).
