The problem with letting things ripen.

1.9K followers

5 years ago

I figured out that there is one problem with my decision to let my posts "ripen" in their own time: I get antsy. I get impatient.

I stack up piles and piles of research, then I start in for one more run and my computer's trash can gets full.

I pace around and grind my teeth and go, "Okay, so...WHAT already?"

It's this same trait that makes me a lousy baker.

During my baking adventures I'd keep opening the oven door to check on how everything was going in there, promptly making the cakes and things collapse. (I sure used to get an interesting assortment of brownies that way, though.)

I am not sure I am really good at being a mango tree, my latest role model.

The fruit just hangs there and hangs there and hangs there.

They get prettier and prettier. They get bigger, more juicy, more fragrant, more everything.

One day, it is done. A ripe fruit falls. The tree lets it go.

Me, I keep looking at the fruit picker leaning against the garage wall. I could grab those half-ripe mangos. Yes, I could.

I could stack them on the kitchen counter.

Then, of course, I'd be eating half-ripe fruits which, for real, don't taste anywhere near as good as the ripe mangoes...but, they sure are better than no mangoes and a mouthful of drool.

The thing is, I am remembering that the Hawaiian island of Molokai, where I grew up, also has another, deeper kaona name: Pule 'O'O.

"Pule" means prayer, "'o'o" is that moment when a fruit tree (like a mango) lets go of the ripened fruit.

That island, Molokai, was famous for its kahuna -- people who could pray and play with the energies of the universe. I suppose you'd call them wizards.

It is said that at one point there was a school for these energy-workers there.

The island of Molokai was never conquered by her bigger neighbors even though she was a rich, fat land with many fishponds and farms.

One time a greedy chief brought over a whole armada of war-canoes filled with fierce warriors. They were met by the kahuna and the other island people who stood, waiting on the beaches with no weapons in their hands.

Every invading warrior who stepped onto the beach fell over dead.

The only one who didn't was their chief. The kahuna sent him away to tell the story.

And that's why the island is still called "effective prayer."

So...I keep going.

Lessons and more lessons will be coming, I'm sure.

Hope all's going well with you guys.