parable of Sid Gotonirvana's family farm

parable of Sid Gotonirvana's family farm

A long time ago, in paradise valley, Sid and his family, with the surname of Gotonirvana,  had a farm collective, growing a rich variety of fruits. They tasted extraordinary, and the fruit was completely wholesome and nutritious. Their fruit was available far and wide, famous everywhere.

their advertisement read:

Sid and Gotonirvana family farms,
quenching thirst with the tastiest fruit
with an entirely complete and pure variety of fruits.

Hundreds of years later, after many generations, the Gotonirvana clan and family farms still thrived. They still had the amazing complete collection and variety of fruits as their root patriarch great-great-great-great-grand-pappy Sid, but in addition to the original fruits,  now the family had many additional hybrids, and some would even dare to say, some genetically modified fruits that were not as tasty and efficacious as previous generations.

The current leader of the Gotonirvana clan was Bud. He begat a son named Ghosa, and was nicknamed 'Gus'. Now Gus was born with a taste impediment. He loved bitter melon, and hated all other fruits and vegetables. And he did not like the way his father Bud ran the family business, and he definitely did not like Bud's insistence on maintaining tradition. Their advertisement was even identical as Sid's original, with the addition of proudly proclaiming the length of their service.

Sid and Gotonirvana family farms,
quenching thirst with the tastiest fruit
for the past 500 years,
with an entirely complete and pure variety of fruits.

Now Gus believed the family business should not narrowly focus on only fruits that quench thirst, but should expand to include every kind of edible food, edible by humans, animals, bugs, and even microscopic unseen living organisms.

So he did what he felt would be in the best interest of the family business. He staged a hostile takeover, and had his father and other relatives with controlling interests opposed to his vision imprisoned and/or exiled.

Now the new business plan to expand into all edibles, not just fruit, needed to be phased out. So the first part of his plan, to groom the consumers into gradually accepting his brilliant new vision, was to restrict the fruit to a selection that would make the consumer receptive to his new ideas. With a one pointed spot light on the fruit of his choice: Bitter Melon.

The old family advertisement was modified to suit Gus's agenda, and the plan was underway. The public reaction was mixed. People old enough or knowledgeable enough to know past history were skeptical about the changes. Young people who didn't know history or think things through, but were excited by all things new, sided with Gus.

Soon, there was a shareholder meeting, and Gus took questions:

question: Isn't bitter melon a vegetable, not a fruit?

Gus: it's an access vegetable-fruit, so it's practically the same as a fruit.

Some of the shareholders didn't trust Gus, so they went over to the farm collective to see what they actually grew there.

There were so many varieties of fruit, too many to count. But there were 7 major fruits, including delicious mango, pineapple, durian, mangostein, avocado, coconuts, etc.

The complete variety of fruits were still allowed to grow, but besides the one picked by some family and friends, most of the fruit lay rotting on the ground.

Still on the farm was the old sign:
Sid and Gotonirvana family farms,
quenching thirst with the tastiest fruit
for the past 500 years,
with an entirely complete and pure variety of fruits.

Next to it, was a bigger, shinier, new sign with new slogan:
Sid and Gotonirvana family farms,
quenching thirst with the tastiest edibles
for the past 500 years,
with an entirely complete and pure experience of bitter melon.