Mangoes, Guavas & The Messy Middle

Raising a Human in a World That Wants Smoothies Without Seeds

While spending time with my 2-year-old, as much as I try to be mindful of what she picks up and what she doesn’t, I am still very curious to see how she turns out when she grows up.

We, her parents, have very dissimilar traits, like one of us is very particular about things, the other is not. One of us measures life in convenience, the other in impact. etc.

The challenge of being in this kind of society, where you are not allowed to be messy and are not accepted if you are not creative, yet you can be both. We tend to hate the kind person if they are kind to the people we like as well. We don’t like a strict person if they are too strict about things we are not.

As a kid I would always wonder how awesome it would be if the mango and guava didn’t have their seeds in them and are still the same sweet. But that’s not life, the seed is there so that more such sweet mangoes can grow.

My favorite philosopher of modern times, Allan de Botton, wrote a very beautiful piece on this and calls it the ‘Weakness of Strength Theory’ I highly recommend it

"The wound is the place where the Light enters you."
— Rumi