Ever disagree with someone about whether a banana was ripe and ready to eat? Did you say, “How can you eat it that way? Yuck!” Why is it that individuals differ so much in what they think is good and ready? Lot’s of foods are labeled ready to eat, but not bananas. Once picked a banana begins a ‘developing’ process that includes changes in color and sugar content. One person might serve up a banana that is light green and very firm, another thinks it doesn’t peak in flavor until the color is bright yellow and the flesh is slightly soft. Perhaps a banana isn’t ripe until the brown and black spots are about to cover the skin and the inside is soft enough to melt in your mouth. Who is right? Is it okay to eat them at any stage? Okay, enough of yucky and yummy imagery.
New ideas are like newly picked bananas.
One person thinks the idea’s time has come when it it fresh and green and firm. Another person insists that it is not ready, and cannot stomach the idea in that stage of development. Still another wants to wait until the idea is developed inside and out, almost transformed into something different from the original. Who is right? Is it okay to accept an idea that is in a stage of development other than your preferred version of ‘ripe?’ What’s the down side?
If you are stranded on the proverbial island with nothing else to eat would you accept an underdeveloped banana or eat fruit you can’t stand: oranges or pineapples? Or would you starve?
RecapitulationSong 