The Bad apple ...

Since my girls enjoy eating apples, I love buying them. I recall that when I was young, my father used to like peeling apples for my siblings and me. His hands danced around the apple in a twirling, swirling jig, as the peeled apple skin grew longer and longer, a vivid, slithering snake, each time his knife made the round. My heart thumped so hard against my chest that I thought it would break out. Each time, I held my breath, afraid that the length of apple skin would be chopped off accidentally. I loved seeing the string of apple skin coiled like a striking cobra on the counter-top  ... what a fond memory!

Unfortunately, not all apples come in perfect conditions like the one in the  picture above. I remember one time when my family and I were on one of our trips visiting the beautiful sites of China. Outside our hotel, several fruits stands stood, overflowing with enticing, juicy apples and pears. Longing for fruits after many days of eating greasy foods, we found ourselves buying some of those apples. The apples were beautiful and looked so delicious. So we bought a couple pounds at the very least. Feeling contented, we brought them to our room. At that time, I happened to have a knife with me. So I peeled some apples, each time halting after the first slice, because the apples’ hearts were black –rotten that is!

Can you tell bad apples from good ones? How do we know we have met the right people in our lives?

Perhaps there isn't a way? How do we know that we have met the right people in our lives, the people that we intend to walk the isle with someday? Unfortunately the answer still remains the same: No. We have no idea.

I remember what my friend once told me. She said that her fiancé told her, “There is a purpose in meeting each person in this lifetime.”

Everyone has their strength and that very strength is the one that we are seeking for to add on to our wisdom’s belt, another thread woven into the intricate design. Sometimes we meet certain people that turn our lives upside down. Then we wish that we have never met those people in the first place, hoping that those meetings can be erased from our memories.  --Don't we wish?

The truth is, it doesn’t matter what the person has brought us personally, there was always a reason behind each encounter, even if it meant that they brought us nothing but grief and sorrow. If we look hard enough … perhaps we would find the wisdom behind the unhappiness. This reminds me of a song –What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger! Stand a little taller. Perhaps we should ...

Thanks to those bad apples that we have come across in our lives, we are now much wiser. Thanks to them, we can stand a little taller. Thanks to them we know what type of people to avoid next time.

I am sure in our journeys of life that we have met a variety of people that have profoundly impacted our lives in many ways. --positively or negatively. Thanks to them we can now be certain of which path to take in our journeys. With that in mind, let's hope that we can meet more people, so we can live our life to the fullest. C'mon bad apples, bring it on. We fear you not!

Until next stop,
Journey of Life