My Morning Banana

What Matters Most………………Commentary by Jim High

Bananas are good for you, full of nutrition and non-fattening, unless you make banana pudding with them.  I eat one almost every morning as I have my coffee and read before the sun comes up.  Here’s a tip about bananas – before they get too ripe you can peel them and cut them into little half inch chunks and freeze them, then they taste just like banana ice cream without all the extra calories.

During the summer of 1970, I took a trip to the Far East touring Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Philippines.  It was in the Philippines that I tasted a fresh banana.  The locals were selling them on the side of the road, and they even had different varieties of bananas with different tastes.  If you ever get the chance be sure to try a fresh tree ripened banana.  They are very different from the ones we get that are harvested while still green.

One morning a few weeks back as I was eating my morning banana, I began to think of how many people were involved in providing this banana for me to enjoy.  The sticker on it said “Product of Guatemala”, so I started with the farmer or plantation owner on whose land this banana had grown.  And, of course, all the workers who had tended to the tree, picked the banana, taken it to the processing shed, packed it, made the cardboard shipping box, trucked it to the port, and those who had loaded it on the ship.

Bananas are a regular row crop, so someone had planted that banana tree long ago, and someone provided the banana plant to the farmer.  Even the land on which it was grown had involved other people in the purchase of the land, and the setting up of the plantation.  And since I suspect banana plantations are huge operations many more people are involved in the running and upkeep of the plantation.

I don’t think they make cars and trucks in Guatemala, so another whole host of people somewhere in the world made the cars and truck involved in the transportation of my banana to the port.  And the gas to power those vehicles came from somewhere else as well, provided by yet more people.

The banana boat, maybe cargo ship is a better term, involved many people both in its construction and operation.  As it made its way from Guatemala to Gulfport others were also involved.  Then its cargo of bananas was unloaded and transferred to trucks for shipment to Kroger’s distribution warehouse somewhere, and from there my morning banana made it way to the store in Tupelo.  This process involved hundreds more and maybe thousands of people when you consider all the jobs related to this process in some way.

Even after it arrived at the Tupelo store someone had to receive it and then place it on the banana table for me to select.  The cashier weighed it and charged me for it, and the nice young man who sacked my groceries put it in the plastic bag with my other purchases.  I brought it home to my apartment in a car many other people were involved in making, that ran on gas drilled and refined and shipped from who knows where to Tupelo.

Lastly, after eating my morning banana the peel was place in the garbage to be taken away in a plastic garbage bag made by others in some factory somewhere and put in a landfill that is managed by yet more people.

What Matters Most…..…we need to understand and be aware of how interconnected and dependent on the work and labor of others we all are.  We truly live in a web of connectivity that reaches all around the world.  And it occurred to me that virtually every aspect of my life came about as the result of others’ efforts.  Then I thought of the leather couch I was sitting on, but that is another story.

                  

© 2010 #15  Jim High can be reached at P. O. Box 467, Tupelo, MS 38802-0467