How Many Carrots Are You?

Someone onced asked me, "How many carrots do you think you are?"

The man who had asked me this was a mime in New York City, he had just come off a bus when I asked my mom about getting a ring; I was only 8. I had just seen the biggest diamond in a store window and I asked my mother to buy a diamond for me. In the midst of no where this man with a face painted white is looking at me. He smiles and at first I shy away; I'm afraid of clowns and he looked scarily like a clown.

He held out his hand and I shook it. Smiling he did a little act and I had to laugh because it was funny in its own way. Then he asked me that strange question:

How many carrots do you think you are?

At the time I thought it was a strange question. I told him I thought I was 100 carrots and he smiled again and asked me why I thought so. I told him it was because I was just that great and valuable to the world. He looked at me with though for a moment.

Keep that answer in your heart, and when the time comes you'll think about this question again.

When that day comes, think about me and the question.

Think about my occupation and the people in this city, don't forget.

And if you ever get a chance to, make sure to come visit me again to tell me the answer.

He told me his name and I remember my mom looking at him funny. He tipped his hat theatrically and walked off into the crowd of people. I had to stare, I mean when is the last time someone said something like that to you? Just out of the blue?

Oddly enough though, he was right. I thought about it every year afterwards until I turned 10, then life just got too fast paced for me to remember anything. It never crossed my mind to think about the mime whom I came to call Mr. Carrot. Years went by and then I turned 16, and then it was like life just took a change for the unknown; I became that unknown variable in those math equations that I saw so often and I didn't like it. I encountered a lot of problems in which the answers were hard to find or just never found.

After all of those problems I got to thinking and one night I remembered Mr. Carrot and the question came to mind. The entire event from meeting to departure played in my mind like a strip of film that you see in movies. I thought about the question and then all of a sudden I wasn't so sure about my answer. As a matter of fact, I wasn't sure about anything anymore; it was all a blur, and it still is to this very day. So now I ask you, How many carrots are you?

How valuable are you in this world? How much do you value yourself in this world in which we all drag ourselves through? How much are you valued as a person who is a friend and member of a family unit? How much are you worth to the economy? How valuable are you to the community in which you live in? Do people stop to look at you in awe? Or no, better question, Do people stop to look at you to admire the way you've lived? To admire your lifestyle and your values and beliefs?

How many carrots are you?

The Asian Teen,

KIMMY