Something To Ponder

With all of the known and classified plants, seeds, fruits and vegetables in the world, have you ever considered how many people in the history of human existence have died finding out which were safe to eat and which were poisonous? I mean, think about it. The mushroom family alone probably wiped out an entire nation. I can just imagine how it went down.

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“So, the other day, Eddie, from hunting and gathering, ate this weird looking mushy thing he found in the forest. It doesn’t have a name, obviously, so I’ll call it a mushroom. It turns out they were poisonous, and it killed him. Which reminds me, no one eat the mushroom thingies growing in the forest. Anyway, I happened to stumble across another bunch of mushroom things in another part of the woods, but these look distinctly different from the one Eddie ate. So…who wants to try them?”

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Or, what about berries?

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“Dang, no birds are eating these berries. That’s not a good sign.”

“But Larry, we took an oath. Be it fungus, leaf, berry or root…we swore to try them all. It’s for the good of the tribe.”

“You’re right. Why don’t you go first on this one?”

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Something to ponder, I suppose.

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I don’t have an official stat on this, but whenever you ask someone what they plan to do after retirement, more often than not their answer is something along the lines of “play more golf and travel.” In fact, just the other day I was discussing the topic of post-retirement plans with a few co-workers. It was interesting to note that the majority of those involved in the discussion were excited by the thought of having more free time to golf. This triggered an immediate question in my head. What does a professional golfer do after retiring? Do they apply for a regular job at the local Wal-Mart? Do they limit themselves to only playing nine holes? Maybe they just move up to the white tees.

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That's something to ponder.

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When Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, do you think that either of them ever had a mental lapse where they forgot that certain of earth’s creatures, like the lion or the grizzly bear, were no longer the cuddly kitty or huggable bear? After being in the peaceful, friendly garden setting for so long, I imagine the concept of boundaries would have taken some time to get used to. However, not all animals are aggressive or dangerous. So, could one assume they kept a master list of animals that were approachable and another of those that weren’t? If so, the snake section of the list would have been the pits to collect.

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And while we’re on the subject of Adam and Eve, how long do you think it took before Eve felt comfortable picking fruit from the surrounding trees? I would have to think there was some hesitancy in that arena. After all, her first experience didn’t go so well. And let’s not forget about Adam. He must have questioned everything Eve prepared for meals. “What’s this?” or “Where did this come from?” or "Should I be eating this?" were probably questions that were all too common at the dinner table.

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Just something to ponder.

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A certain dried fruit company uses the slogan, “A healthy snack; the one Mother Nature would eat!” on all of their packaging. Is there anything weird about that statement? I guess the real question is: Does Mother Nature only eat meat? I mean, if the earth’s vegetation and environment —in all its forms— are her children, then I think we have an ethical dilemma on our hands. Now, I realize there are plenty of creatures living in nature that are known to eat their own young. As scientists, we accept this. As humans we can’t understand it. On the other hand, human characteristics and qualities are typically associated with Mother Nature and Father Time. So, is this an issue of cannibalism, or is “Mother Nature” just an occupation title —like “chicken sexer” or “forest husbandry?”

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Something to ponder.

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