India must host a global lemonade party

The recent controversy on tweets about India's farmer protests by Rihanna, Greta Thunberg, Mia Khalifa, and some others have handed India a lemon. India must take this lemon, and make lemonade. There is much positive India can do

THE Lemonade Party Movement, a newly formed global initiative which promotes the philosophy that "if life gives you a lemon, make lemonade", has in a statement called upon India to convene a global meet of leaders and influencers to discuss various threats facing the world future.

"Celebrities play an important role in spreading world messages. The recent controversy on tweets about India's farmer protests by Rihanna, Greta Thunberg, Mia Khalifa, and some others have handed India a lemon. India must take this lemon, and make lemonade. There is much positive India can do," the statement said.

Nations and individuals are facing unprecedented challenges, including ugly social tensions, climate change, and stress of mind. There is a lack of leadership by the United Nations, and no world leader is stepping up to provide a guiding hand to help navigate planet Earth in the 21st century.

Here is where India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi can and must play a generational role. India must refresh its storied wisdom and play the role of an honest broker, a Vishwa-Moderator, and earn global respect as a Vishwa-Guru. A digital lemonade party to discuss tangible steps to reduce global challenges and dangers is the crying need of the hour.

A must share and forcefully bring center-stage in world the principles of ahimsa, a middle path and peace of mind, and harmony between man and nature. These lighthouse principles must be spread across all nations, communities, and people in an urgent mission mode. The lemonade get-together must discuss how to spread such lighthouse values globally, especially among children, so that our future generations are less prone to extremism, and learn to live and let live. There is no Planet B. People, environment, and Mother Earth have to each live and let the other live. India can convene this global dialogue, share a vision and invite other nations, leaders, and voices to come together and make lemonade, for a better world and future for all.

According to Wikipedia, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade" is a proverbial phrase used to encourage optimism and a positive can-do attitude in the face of adversity or misfortune. This encouragement of optimism and a positive can-do attitude in the face of challenges is a core principle of the Lemonade Party.

Lemons suggest sourness or difficulty in life; making lemonade is turning them into something positive or desirable. According to Wikipedia, the phrase was initially coined by writer Elbert Hubbard in a 1915 obituary he penned and published for dwarf actor Marshall Pinckney Wilder.

The obituary, entitled The King of Jesters, praises Wilder's optimistic attitude and achievements in the face of his disabilities: "He was a walking refutation of that dogmatic statement, Mens sana in corpore sano. His was a sound mind in an unsound body. He proved the eternal paradox of things. He cashed in on his disabilities. He picked up the lemons that fate had sent him and started a lemonade-stand."

Although the expression was coined by Hubbard, many modern authors attribute the expression to Dale Carnegie who used it in his 1948 book How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. Carnegie's version reads: "If You Have a Lemon, Make a Lemonade."

Carnegie credited Julius Rosenwald for giving him the phrase.

The Lemonade Party Movement promotes a global culture to try one's best in order to find a way to innovate, mitigate, and move ahead in a positive direction when engaging with the challenges in social, economic, and conflict resolution, for the peace of mind of we the people, and our communities, locally and globally.

The Lemonade Party Movement is a program of the Live and Let Live sf global campaign.

Robinder Sachdev