|
Author
|
Topic: the sweetest plum
|
dafremen
unregistered
|
posted April 09, 2004 02:20 PM
From For Yellow Wax and the Ants:A man buys plums to give away. After purchasing them, he notices that they are covered with pesticides, and so takes the time to wipe the poison from the fruit before giving it away. After the plums have been cleaned, he goes to a nearby poor house where there are people waiting in line for food.
"Would you like a plum?", he asks each person in line, until all of the plums are gone. As the people enjoy the sweet plums, the man waits until each had tasted of them, then announces loudly to all, "These plums were poisoned.." The man never has the chance to finish for, almost to a person, everyone spits the plum from their mouths and throws the rest to the ground. From this the man surmises that noone would have tasted the plums if they had guessed what the future held, nor would the plums' sweetness have been wasted if the past had been forgotten. A plum is sweetest as it is, when it is, while it is.
IP: Logged |
purplezen
Knowflake Posts: 888
From: outer space
Registered: Aug 2003
|
posted April 10, 2004 11:38 PM
very deep!IP: Logged |
trillian
Knowflake Posts: 4050
From: The Boundless
Registered: Mar 2003
|
posted April 11, 2004 09:43 AM
He sounds like a very nasty man to me, reaping for himself some serious karma. Someday, someone will feed him some plums, and surmise that he doesn't like a taste of his own medicine.
IP: Logged |
juniperb
Knowflake Posts: 6830
From: Blue Star Kachina
Registered: Mar 2002
|
posted April 11, 2004 03:55 PM
My plum tree is budding out  ------------------
If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans. ~James Herriot IP: Logged |
dafremen
unregistered
|
posted April 12, 2004 01:12 PM
He's only nasty, trillian, because they didn't wait for him to finish saying:"These plums were poisoned...but I cleaned them off." No harm, no karma. Plus, he did give them plums with the best of intentions. IP: Logged |
trillian
Knowflake Posts: 4050
From: The Boundless
Registered: Mar 2003
|
posted April 12, 2004 01:20 PM
Ahhh, but that's not the way the story reads!And we can argue till doomsday,and I will always wish you well, and will always walk through a different world than you.  Because intentions, like all things, are in the eye of the beholder. We bomb mothers and babies with the best of intentions. IP: Logged |
dafremen
unregistered
|
posted April 12, 2004 08:53 PM
Actually love...the story reads:"But the man never has the chance to finish.."  Love, daf p.s. Arguing till doomsday would require that I
A) Subscribe to the notion of a doomsday, which I do not.
B) Actually believed that I was capable of convincing anyone of anything, which again, I do not. Trying to convince anyone of anything is an exercise in futility. Believe me. No...really...it's true! IP: Logged |
purplezen
Knowflake Posts: 888
From: outer space
Registered: Aug 2003
|
posted April 12, 2004 11:30 PM
plums have always been my favorite fruit, lol.IP: Logged |
trillian
Knowflake Posts: 4050
From: The Boundless
Registered: Mar 2003
|
posted April 13, 2004 08:45 AM
'Twas a figure o' speech, and you knew that. Oh, I know what the story says. I am very capable of reading for comprehension. And I could make further points about the content of the story, what it says, and what it doesn't, what is implied and what is explicit...but...wouldn't want to enter into an exercise in futility. I love plums too...but they aren't yet in season here. The ones I've bought recently were...bitter.
IP: Logged |
silverbells
Knowflake Posts: 1506
From: The second star to the right (which shines in the night for'eer)
Registered: Apr 2003
|
posted July 28, 2004 04:48 PM
Why was the guy going to tell those people about the plums' former poisoned state? What was he hoping to accomplish?------------------
Get some love in your groove, just get hip to forgive... - Michael Franks IP: Logged |
Gia
Knowflake Posts: 1154
From: California
Registered: May 2004
|
posted July 28, 2004 07:21 PM
If this man was wise he would never have announced that the plums were poisoned. For his next act would be to pat himself on the back for the cleaning of them. He would have known that his good act would have been gratitude enough. However, so plum full of himself was he, that he spoilt the whole of the gesture because he was poisoned by his own ego.Good story. How we see depends very much from which direction we are looking. A great example Daf of those who give in joy and of those who give to seek recognition. It is that hidden desire which makes those plums unwholesome. Gia IP: Logged |
dafremen
unregistered
|
posted July 28, 2004 08:15 PM
The man went into the experience unenlightened, and came out of it less so.  daf P.S. Also, when reading parable-type stories, one should usually give some leeway for the details to overrun the boundaries of logic. For instance, in Jesus' parable about the scattering of the seed, why would anyone scatter seed onto the rocky ground? What EVER would they hope to accomplish? Well not much, but it wouldn't make for much of a parable if the hypothetical person HADN'T scattered the seed onto the less fertile ground, now would it have? IP: Logged |
Charlotte
Knowflake Posts: 1239
From: USA
Registered: Apr 2004
|
posted July 28, 2004 08:46 PM
Why daf, you are a very "wise man"...I got it!Even though the story wasn't really about plums, I buy "organic"  IP: Logged |
Philbird
Knowflake Posts: 3396
From: Here, there and everywhere.
Registered: Jun 2004
|
posted July 28, 2004 09:02 PM
This is only one story, just think a sec about misrepresentation on a global scale. The Co. that sold trillion her sour plumb knew they were doing so, and the Co. wasn't there to tell her they were greenhouse grown and forced to turn purple before their time.
She takes a bite out of it and realizes it's sour, thus it's sacrifice is not appreciated. There wasn't anyone there to gloat either.
We are lied to everyday!
Gia, we can say this man was poisioned by his ego, but what about mass corporations that don't have egos. Are they blameless?
I liked your points and agree, but not everyone is as aware they are being had, and bite into the "poison" any way because they think it's supposed to taste like that.
And we are not poor.
Same as our government!IP: Logged |
Gia
Knowflake Posts: 1154
From: California
Registered: May 2004
|
posted July 28, 2004 09:46 PM
Hi Philly,You are very right about those companies often acting in unscrupulous ways. However people run companies and they care more about their profits and less about you. I suppose that companies on their own are pretty neutral and impartial if it were not for the people who run them. I'm not saying all companies are bad of course. I hear what you are saying Daf and I think the story a good one. However people scatter seeds on rocky ground every single day in all matter of ways. The seed they sow is an action. It an action that bears good fruit, bad fruit, or sadly no harvest at all. Actually, I think he would probably not do things in the exact same manner again. Perhaps he was enlightened. Maybe the plum was sweetest for the giver after all. We don't always know the ending. What hope! I love happy endings.... Gia IP: Logged |
Philbird
Knowflake Posts: 3396
From: Here, there and everywhere.
Registered: Jun 2004
|
posted July 29, 2004 02:10 PM
To the topIP: Logged |
Lindaland
UBBFriend: Email This Page to Someone! 
