The Mango Season
The mango season will be with us soon. All over Lautoka
thousands of trees can be seen flowering and many of us are looking forward to when we will
have mangoes in abundance. We will have mango chutney, mango juice, plain mango
and many other stuff.
I have a unique story to tell. I have a hybrid mango tree at
the back of my home in Lautoka which used to bear fruit that was not good to
eat. It was sour and bitter sweet and the flesh of the mango is stringy and it
used to have worms. The tree is huge and during the cyclone season it’s a threat
to my neighbours home including mine. So we decided to make our place safe and
we debarked the tree. It has been six months and the tree is dying a slow death. Since the debarking, we have had fewer fruit but they are no longer bitter sweet and are nice to eat. I look up and I see the tree is again in full bloom.
Soon we will be having mangoes.
One day as I sat under the dying tree, I looked up and said,
“Are you telling me something?” “Why have you suddenly given us better fruit now
that we want to cut you down.”
And a thought crossed my mind. Trees are like people. Only
when we have life threatening experiences do we change for the good.
I have lemon tree that has not fruited in all the years that
it has stood beside my home. I have a feeling it needs a life threatening
experience to make it come to its senses and bear some lemons.
Allen Lockington is a self-employed customs agent and business consultant who has regular articles published in Fiji. I thank Allen for permission to reprint some of them in this political blog. They remind us that life goes on, whatever the political situation. And it's good to know that.
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