Could This Be The Love

There has been an endless cycle of shouts and retorts as it relates to males and females. One of the female lashings involves likening them to apples and the men as the hungry man who picks at the apples. For those who have not seen it, it goes as such:

"Women are like apples on trees. The best ones are at the top of the tree. Most men don't want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt. Instead, they sometimes take the apples from the ground that aren't as good, but easy. The apples at the top think something is wrong with them, when in reality, they're amazing. They just have to wait for the right man to come along, the one who is brave enough to climb all the way to the top of the tree.

Now men . . . men are like a fine wine. They begin as grapes, and it's up to women to stomp the sh** out of them until they turn into something acceptable to have dinner with."

First off, I brushed the part about the wine off my shoulder. Following that line of thinking would only lead to scorning men, which could lead to them not valuing a woman, which leads to the popular female complaint that "all men are dogs." As for the apple analogy, I thought that there had been somewhat of a feminine checkmate, because to a certain degree, it has accurate elements to it. Recently, I was informed by an associate of mine that there had been a male to reply to the previous analogy. It went as such:

What the top apples don't realize is that they are just rotting away while waiting to be picked by the right man.

Now the man, as intelligent as he is, knows not to eat a spoiled apple. Therefore, he indulges himself in as many ripe apples as he can that are within arms reach. He even knows that he doesn't need to extend himself to get to those top apples because they will eventually fall off and end up on the ground. Easy pickings...

I always believe in the "work smarter, not harder" principle. Not to say that the men are lazy, but why aggravate the whole tree, climbing, putting your feet on other apples, snapping branches, etc. to get to these "top apples" when you can stay there and patiently wait until the apples on the top fall from the tree. Sure, those who just come to the tree for a quick snack will munch the bottom feeders, but finding a good mate is all about patience anyway. Climbing the tree, to me, is symbolic of forcing your way into someone's life. You got to have the apple at the top NOW, so you grab ladders, climb the tree, and disturbing the OTHER apples just to get the one apple you want.

Also, who's to say that the apples at the top are ripe? How would it look to climb the top of the tree to snag an apple that wasn't at is prime? Being at the top of the tree does nothing but keep you from hungry people. Just as women give themselves time to heal and prepare to be in a relationship, they must also be patient.

Men, also, are told as Christians to seek out their women ("he that finds a wife finds a good thing"), so there is work on our ends as well. We cannot be at home and expect the apple to magically appear in our hands, ripe and ready to eat. We must get off our asses, GO TO THE TREE, and wait. If you cannot give the relationship time, it will not grow. Don't just sit there, either. Do something constructive. Plan things out, look into the long-run advantages. That way, when the prime apple does drop, you have things mapped out.

How you like THEM apples?

-B