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Bittersweet: The "For(e)-bidden" Fruit

First post in a month! It's been a while coming and it's finally here.

Warm breeze playing softly on the nape of your neck, you gaze up enthralled.
There it is. What you have longed for for eons on end; finally within your grasp.
You take in the expanse of it all. The red-golden-green colors silently inviting you to indulge.
Yet, you hesitate.


Maybe it's because some call it the forbidden fruit. That last drop of water that tips the calabash over.
Come to think of it, it's quite ironic that it should be titled as such when its seeds are commonplace.
At one point or another, everyone falls for its charm and after that, you're never quite the same.
You either get sucked into its sweet succulent juices or you feel the stinging burn of its acrid taste.
Bittersweet.


The silent buzz of a bee draws you out of your reverie and you shuffle across the vast, green lawn to the foot of the tree.
Some say its the exact replica of its ancestor in the garden of Eden.
A physical manifestation of the tests and temptations humans continually endure.
As for you, you consider it a tree just like any other. A sign of life and the mercy of His Highness.
Bittersweet.


Back against the bark, your mind drifts away once more and settles upon the legend
Legend has it that "forbidden fruit" has an alternate meaning; one lost in dusty bounds of papyri
"Fore" - Pre-, Before, Prior
"Bidden" - Uttered, Commanded, Invited, Summoned
"Fore-Bidden" - Predetermined, Called into Existence, Predicted [Pre-dictated(uttered)]


As with most legends, there are those who believe and those who don't.
Those who think man charts his own destiny, and others who are sure God chuckles at man following the path that He Himself mapped out for him.
You fall into the latter.
Not because of the idea of having someone else in control, but rather because of choice.
The forbidden fruit chooses its devourer.


Many are the tales of people - old and young, male and female - going about banal activities, until suddenly - *Plop*
There it is right in their lap: The gleaming forbidden fruit.
To eat or not to eat.
That question sparks a secondary cycle of choice which reverberates throughout the universe.
And so it goes, like ripples formed in a pool of water, the action of one influences all.


*Plop*
You jolt up in surprise. You had been nodding off. Going about the "mundane" thing called life.
But not anymore. You have been picked. Now the ball - or rather the fruit - is in your court.
Do you take a bite and forge into the fluid of life which runs both bitter and sweet?
Do you put the fruit aside and leave it for another to "chance upon"?
Are you ready to make that decision that will undoubtedly leave you different?


The trail of questions continue as you pick up the fruit and raise it to your face.
Before you had no options. Now you have two choices.
Bittersweet.
To be (chosen) or not to be (chosen). That is the question.

--
Photo Source: forbidden-fruit1.jpg

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