Lesser of Two Bananas

| October 5, 2012

A bunch of yellow bananas.My local grocer carries two brands of bananas: Chiquita and Dole.  Lately, I have complained to him because one is always over-ripe and rotting, and the other has a very bitter taste, and makes me sick. The owner says I can take one or the other but if I don’t choose one, I have forfeited my right to complain.

The guy next to me continues to buy the Dole bananas even though they stink – because they are not as bad as the Chiquita, he says.  He will continue, to complain, but what will the owner say to himself?  He will say, “Who cares what he thinks, as long as he keeps buying bananas from me.”

If that were the end of the story, it would be basically none of my business that my neighbor chooses the lesser of two bad bananas. But my neighbor has started to complain that I am forfeiting my right not only to complain, but my future right to choose my own banana and that if I don’t choose any bananas, I am actually choosing to buy the Chiquita.  I insist that I don’t want either banana. No matter, my friend says: Not voting for Dole IS voting for Chiquita.

Sometimes I am tempted to buy an off-brand banana. But my friend tells me that too is a waste of time.  The grocers will never ever carry that brand, only 2% of customers at most, ever choose these bananas over other brands, he says. Besides, eating those other brands will mean that the grocer will never consider improving his banana selection.

Finally, my friend warns me. All kinds of other bad things can happen if I don’t choose Dole bananas.  Perhaps Chiquita will corner the market on other fruits as well.  When I tell him that I am against eating rotten bananas, he mocks me and says, I am living in a pipe dream – bananas can never be tasty again.  Maybe so.  But I refuse to eat rotten bananas. Anybody going to join me?

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Category: 2012 Elections

About the Author ()

God has blessed David and his wife Judy with 5 boys, and 16 wonderful grandchildren.  His book entitled "With Christ in the Voting Booth: Casting Down Imaginations" Before Casting Your Vote", with a Foreword by Mike Huckabee, was released in paperback March 28th. The cheapest price can be seen on www.TurretinPress.com. David is currently an adjunct instructor of Composition and Speech at Marshalltown Community College in Iowa, and a youth counselor at Woodward Academy.   His wife and he have also owned a business selling antique and collectible postcards on eBay since 1999.  David was an activist with Operation Rescue in the early 1990s. He has been been a member of Trinity Presbyterian Reformed Church in Johnston, Iowa for over 15 years. 
  • tony4516

    Ha ha very funny. Choose the banana that is friendly towards Israel.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Shedlock/100000472261599 David Shedlock

      Would that it were that simple. As I posted above, in order to even qualify as a leader, one must Fear God and Kiss the Son. Romney’s promise to be “friendly” towards Israel mean nothing if He does not recognize the King of Kings. Of course, Romney’s personal history shows that nearly everything is about getting elected, and saying anything in order to hoodwink blinded or careless followers.

  • http://www.facebook.com/adamgraham Adam Graham

    David, the problem is that we’re all going to have to eat one banana or another and the consequences are severe if Barack Obama wins, far more than a banana.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Shedlock/100000472261599 David Shedlock

      Yes Adam, i understand that we will likely have a president when this is all said and done. But I am not morally obligated to choose one poison over the other, nor do others get to pick for me who my non-vote counts for. It counts for nobody. I won’t be responsible for what either one does if they are elected. But I am directly responsible to God for obeying Him, and by God’s grace, I will not ask Him for a leader who neither fears God, nor kisses the Son. Nor am I asking God to give me a leader who campaigns on the promise that he will protect the killing of some children, as Romney has promised..

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003113645940 Isaiah Hess

    Irrelevant analogy. Business is a very different creature from politics. You can choose whether or not to purchase bananas. The store owner can choose whether or not to stock bananas. You can’t choose to NOT have a president.

    If you want a banana analogy, here’s a relevant and much more accurate one. You are presented with moldy, rotten bananas (and the mold will likely make you very sick or worse), and overripe bananas (they’ll make you temporarily nauseous). A guy points a gun to your head tells you to pick one of the kinds of bananas and eat them, or else. If the author was consistent, he’d take a bullet to the head. His friends grieve his choice to die rather than become temporarily nauseous.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Shedlock/100000472261599 David Shedlock

      Since somehow you missed the point (it isn’t whether we will have a president or not, I acknowledge that we will have one), I will write more plainly. I have no moral obligation to buy bananas or vote for a Presidential candidate. Both of the current Big Two will politically shoot me in the head. But since you like analogies and want to make it about desperate situations, try this one on for size:

      A terrorist kidnaps your wife and mother, threatening to kill one or the other, but insisting that you choose which one they will kill in 48 hours. If you do not choose, they will kill both. Your mother has cancer and will likely die in less than a year anyway. Who will you choose? Somebody will die (as far as you know). A Christian will not be bullied and knows exactly what to do. They will choose neither (and they will pray). When faced with two choices, both evil, the obedient Christian will always choose neither.

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