I was strawberry picking today, thinking about all the life lessons we can learn from strawberries, like how similar people and strawberries are (yes, my mind goes down some rather strange rabbit holes!) when a family arrived to completely prove my point.
Here is the thing:
Some strawberries are not ready yet. We do our best to create the conditions needed for them to grow into fruit we can enjoy and let them do their thing so we can enjoy them when they are ready.
Some strawberries are rotten. We do not let them in our basket because they will contaminate the others to the point where we only have a basket of rotten fruit.
Some strawberries are soft. We can let them in, but we have to be careful because they could be good if they are used quickly or they could turn rotten before we can get to them.
Some strawberries are perfect… and these are the ones we try to fill our basket with. Not because they are the perfect size or shape or some other standard, but because they have matured to the point where they will be delicious no matter how they are utilized.
Now, here is where that family comes in…
It was a mother, father, teen daughter, and preteen son. The parents had purchased two four-quart baskets and two quart baskets. The accountant in me cringed because it would have been much less expensive to just purchase an eight-quart basket ($36 versus $52).
But, even worse, the kids obviously did NOT want to be there. One did not want to touch anything that might have dirt on it, to which the mom said it was a berry patch- everything has dirt on it and they would wash it when they were home. The other kept picking a berry or two and saying “okay, it’s full- let’s go home”.
As they made their way around the patch, it was clear the kids were soft. They just wanted to be in comfort of their home, not helping their parents pick berries. They barely even bent over to look at the strawberries.
Instead of telling the kids that they could either help or wait until the parents were done (in other words, being bored for an even longer period of time), the parents left before filling up even one four-quart box.
They not only paid for over six quarts of berries they did not pick, but they missed an opportunity to help their kids mature.
Before you leave any angry messages, know that I am aware there could have been other things going on that would have made leaving early the best course of action. If this were the case, why buy so many quarts?
Furthermore, Morgan (or any of my other kids) can attest that this is exactly what I would have done. Even when Cassie, Sydney, and Robby decided to unionize, I made them wait until I was done before we left (they were smart and helped pick- I think we negotiated for ice cream when we were done). And I picked a lot of strawberries back then!
The moral of the story?
When you have the opportunity to help someone else grow, take advantage of it. It may not make you their favorite person in the moment, but they- and others- will thank you for it down the road.
Be the best you you can be. Do not worry about your size, shape, or color. Give yourself time to mature and ripen, and prepare yourself to be useful in whatever manner you are needed. Someone is going to consider themselves very lucky to be able to select you and hopefully you will find yourself in the company of others who are perfectly themselves and you will work together to make the world a more delicious place.