notes in the margins: roots and fruits

What kind of fruit are you bearing?

A number of people have called me a perfectionist. I’m not a fan of the term because I don’t see myself as one. At all. I am particular and sometimes stubborn, but that’s not a perfectionist. However, there are few things that I have accept and appreciate with their flaws and all. Most people don’t see the flaws, but I know it’s there and let it be. Nevertheless, I took some time to reflect on why the term was used. It sparked two revelations. This is the first one: roots and fruits.

Our life events (roots) cause our action (fruits) whether it is conscious and subconscious. In today’s discourse, we usually talk about triggers and how they evoke emotions and states of being (“X thing” caused “Y emotion”). All of this is Rules of Nature: 101, right? However, sometimes it’s so deep we don’t realize what makes us do things or express ourselves in certain ways and coincidentally how it’s being perceived. Because when heavy dust is being blown, or the sun is beaming, or there’s a heavy downpour, you are distracted from what you are rooted in. This includes family, religion, culture, environment, relationships, trauma and so on. However, it doesn’t mean we can’t grow new roots or expand the older ones deeper in the soil. We have to keep in mind that our roots may be strong, but they are also malleable. For example, the tour guide on Robben’s Island where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated said that they used to grow tomatoes and other vegetables using sea water. So, although the tomatoes were red and ripe the way they should be, they were also salty.

Moral of the story: We absorb through our roots and the results are the fruits we bear. Check your roots and take care of them—even the new growth.


If you are wondering what I absorbed, that is coming up next.

4 thoughts on “notes in the margins: roots and fruits

Add yours

  1. Interesting piece. I appreciate the “salty tomatoes” anecdote. I’m working on “purifying” what I absorb.

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