Perfect on the Outside

So today I cut open an orange... it wasn't an organic orange, and it surely wasn't a blissfully juicy Florida orange (like the ones that grow during the winter months in my parent's back yard.) This orange was just one of several that were left over from a recent event my husband attended. Even still, I was willing to give it a try because I simply love citrus fruit. (I just smuggled a bunch into Cali from my recent visit to Florida).

Anyhow, this particular orange sure did look perfect on the outside (actually it looked much, much prettier than my own home grown, Florida citrus)... But what really caught my eye is that it was exactly the same size, same shape and same color as the other couple of oranges that were sitting right beside it. I was, for one brief moment, quite impressed with just how perfect those oranges appeared.

So I picked up the fruit and lo and behold, once I cut the thing open, I realized that the real beauty of this orange was only "skin deep." The peel itself happened to be about 1/2 inch thick and the actual fruit inside was dry and mealy.

I immediately recalled the process that occurs with painting and waxing the external skin of conventionally farmed produce so that they do indeed appear quite pleasing to the eye--which is a most definite guarantee from the factory that they will be just as tasty and satisfying to the palate, right??

So I tossed the orange into my compost bin with a bit of disappointment and went back to try another---only to obtain the same result.

As I dumped the remaining oranges into my compost, a thought occurred to me. These very oranges are essentially a perfect symbol of our current American Society---a society that is known for admiring external beauty and good looks over valuing the actual quality, worth and attributes which are really found "on the inside."