01/10/2014
Wow. All I can say is wow. In a small town where small family businesses are supposed to be celebrated and encouraged to thrive, it's shocking when the "Big People" are still allowed to squash the "Little People" and get away with it with not even a hint of protest.
I'm reminded of a story out of the Bible. "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him." (If you want to read the story in its entirety you can find it in 2 Samuel 12).
Kooky Mookys was more than just an ice cream shop to our family. We didn't make a lot of money. We probably should have closed our doors a long time ago because of the economy. But we didn't because this was our family's dream. It was more than just a business, it was a place I wanted my children to grow up and learn a good work ethic and respect for their elders and to fall in love with the people of this community. We were there, not because it was a huge money maker, but because we loved it. When we closed our doors, it felt like we were saying goodbye to a beloved family member. We were shocked and confused and just really sad.
Maybe we are naïve to how this business world works. We are "Little People" after all. I'm sorry, Mr. Trask we got in your way. I'm sorry you didn't love us as much as the rest of the community. Maybe one day life will give you the opportunity to love something like we loved Kooky's. That is something you can never take away from us.
