Perfect Fruit

I was leaving the grocery store in the beautiful month of July (the day after my birthday, coincidentally), and a man was pulling on the branch of a tree with purplish red leaves on the corner of the parking lot. My eyes narrowed and stomach tensed as I slowed my steps. He did not have any gardening clippers in his hand and was twisting the branch and its beautiful leaves repeatedly. I am sure I was projecting my practiced ‘judgmental neighbor’ look that is so common in this part of the world. 

Justifying himself, the man held out his hand and opened his fist, displaying a fruit. They are plums, he said. I took a couple of steps further in the direction I was going and stopped and turned back to watch. He went to the other side of the tree closest to me, reached up, plucked a couple of small fruits and held them out to me. My eyes widen as I opened my hand as he dropped them inside my palm. They were the most perfectly round fruit I had ever seen. I turned them every which way, looking for a flaw or some sign that they were oval, like nearly all the fruit. There was none. They were a deep purple which reflected the evening sun in their surface. I consider wiping a fruit on my shirt before eating it however, decided not to since there was not a speck of dust, film or wax on them. I put one in my mouth and discovered a very sweet pulp hidden under a tart skin. The pit was impossible to miss, being nearly half the size of the food itself. 

I turned to the man holding up a half-eaten piece of fruit. “They are so perfectly round!” I said, he smiled satisfied and answered, “and no one takes them.” 

As I turned and walked away, chewing on the fruit and on the man’s words, the spirit in my heart spoke, repeating what we had said to each other. “The fruit is so perfect” and “no one takes it.” 

Yeah… that’s just it. 

I had just finished shopping in the fruit section of the commercial market; judging prices and worrying about whether I could afford them. I had walked past the tree loaded with neglected perfection, dangling from its branches, totally oblivious and ignorant to its goodness. Edible. Custom created for humans. Perfect in appearance, taste and function. Completely free. 

That’s just it. We are so programmed to judge and to pay that we no longer can see what is freely and abundantly available to us. 

July 22, 2025