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Reflections from the Blackberry Vines

by Gordon Francis Corbett

    I love blackberries.  I love them in cobblers;  I love them in pies;  and, I love them in a rare glass of blackberry wine.  Most of all, I love them just as nature made them:  hanging from their vines, black, juicy, and waiting for my hand.

    Last year, I took a stainless-steel pot and went to pick some blackberries from the vines lining the streets near our home.  I selected a likely bush that stretched far above my head, approached it, and began to pick.

    Selecting the right berries takes experience.  Simply leaving the green ones will not do;  some look ready, but are not.  One must feel to know.  Only a comparative few feel soft, but firm.  These are the best for taking home.

    The others get different treatment.  Those that feel hard are still sour, and I leave them to ripen.  Those that feel very soft come apart, and I put their sweet fragments in my mouth with one hand while reaching for more.

    As I picked, I exhausted the clusters in front of me and looked to my left.  More bunches beckoned.  I felt them, selected the middling- and very-soft ones, and distributed them appropriately.  I thought of moving to another bush, but at the last moment, I looked up.  Right over my head hung several other groups I had not dreamed were there.  I reached up, felt, picked, and deposited.

    Then, I looked inside the bush to see if more clusters hung within my arms' reach.  Some did, and I responded as I had done with the others.  I backed away from the bush to see which of its neighbors had more berries for me.

    So it went for an hour.  Some vines relinquished their burdens without a fight.  Others' thorns did their best to deter my hands.  Some vines even had spiders, whose webs and flashing legs did their best to deter me.

    Suddenly, it occurred to me what a wonderful analogy to our human experience these berry vines were.  Opportunities abound everywhere, but we must seek them out.  Success does not come with uniform ease.  Perseverance pays, but exacts a price:  thorns, spiders, and simple height all await the intruder, and only those who disregard them can snatch the tasty prizes.

    Many of our youth know only what they see at school, on television, at movie theaters and in video games.  Most know little of the world of economics.  For them, life is a series of tasks soon accomplished and pleasures soon obtained.

    Perhaps they should go out and pick some blackberries.