Up and Down Rodeo…

About two weeks ago, I thought it would be quite an adventure to take The Hope Chronicles to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Our movement has seen hundreds of people on airplanes, dozens of folks in Downtown LA, people down on Skid Row, and even villages in Africa.

But what about the Hollywood movers and shakers in Beverly Hills?

So, off I went. My plan was to go into literally every boutique on the boulevard, one-by-one, asking each employee about their hope. Unfortunately, what I found was that most of the shops had filming restrictions that wouldn’t allow me to use my camera (makes sense seeing as though a gaggle of tourists were milling about outside). However, I found a number of folks thrilled and excited (some taken graciously aback) by the prospect of talking about hope, and willing to chat on-camera.

I talked with about a dozen people—all of which you will see this week in interviews—but among the first was Billie, an employee at a fancy-schmancy jewelry store on Rodeo. I walked into the store, and I immediately told everyone that their store was the absolute friendliest on the entire street. People were smiling, laughing, and talking. Most of the others that I had visited were pretty subdued with either no music or blaring music—nothing in between.

So, I started chatting with the sales floor team, and I invited them to tell me about their hopes. Billie obliged, and our conversation began.

What first struck me about Billie was just how frank she was about her daily morning prayer—something so simple and beautiful, yet so private that most people would never think to bring that up in conversation. Yet, she did, and that prayer was something that has continued to stick with me to this day.

Billie also used several quotes as she described herself and her hope. Here’s the full quote that she left me with at the end of our conversation:

People spend a lifetime searching for happiness; looking for peace. They chase idle dreams, addictions, religions, even other people, hoping to fill the emptiness that plagues them. The irony is the only place they ever needed to search was within.

- Ramona L. Anderson

As I listened, her quotes helped me realize all of the great and unexpected people and places through which hope can be articulated. I mean, Jay-Z isn’t the first person I would expect to inspire me, but as Billie and I talked I could hear that through his words, hope had arisen in her.

That baffles me. Excites me. And makes me wonder where hope will pop up next.

Sam Lundquist
Founder & Community Listener

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Tags: beverly hills, california, rodeo drive, self-realization

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