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I was at the grocery store last night. I needed some frozen vegetables to make soup with. I also wanted some bananas. As I wandered through the aisles to get to the frozen vegetables, I was thinking of what vegetables I would like in the soup. I looked through the glass doors of the freezer, saw the vegetable mix I wanted, opened the door and took out a package. My decision was based mostly on what vegetables I wanted in the selection. It was also about a ten second process, or so it seemed.

Wandering over to the produce section I looked for bananas. I have noticed bananas these days are normally bunched with five to six bananas in a bunch if they are average size. If they are larger or smaller there are more or less bananas in a bunch. This must make it simple for the produce workers to manage.

My choice should have been simple. Walk up to the bananas, pick a bunch that look fresh without being too green. Unless I do not plan on eating a banana that day, then green is not a factor. For some odd reason the process is not that simple.

I walked up to the bananas were. They were on an end-cap, so there were three levels of bananas with each row about five feet long. Then there was the bigger area at the bottom with the most bananas on it. Of course, these bananas were all picked at the same time from the same place. Naturally most of these bananas looked the same with the exception of size. Larger bananas were four to a bunch, smaller bananas were six to eight to a bunch. The things you learn when you go to buy bananas.

I found myself looking at all the bananas on every row. I took a bunch from the bottom, because they are all mostly the same. Then I set them back down and looked some more. I picked a bunch on the middle row. Then I set them down too. Of course as I looked at all the other bunches of bananas they did not really look any different from the ones I had picked up. But they had to be, otherwise why wouldn’t I pick them? I ended up satisfied with a bunch from the right side of the middle row. They were the perfect bananas for me for some unknown reason. I thought about picking out bananas and realized I do the same thing with milk, bread, eggs, and other items at the grocery store.

My analytical self, said all the bananas, loaves of bread, and containers of milk are equal. The bananas separate out by size, but taste the same. So why did I need to look over all the bananas, and pick two bunches, change my mind and finally select the bunch I did?

On the way home it dawned on me that most people when given a choice of one type of cookie, cracker, or fruit, we have a need to pick a certain one that meets some unknown criteria we probably are not even aware of. It is in a certain place on the plate, resting at a certain angle, I don’t know. It sure is strange now that I have noticed it in me.

Comments (0) Nov 05 2007