Aug 3, 2005
That’s What’s Inside
Last night, Rachel cracked open a fortune cookie and pulled out what may very well be the best fortune ever, beating such past favorites as
You will get some new clothes.
and
You will be on the list of the excellent people this year.
The new contender?
When you squeeze an orange, orange juice comes out — because that’s what’s inside.
Lucky numbers: 21, 44, 28, 33, 14, 8
It’s simple, elegant, self-evidently true, and (I believe) truly comforting to any one in need of reassurance that, in this topsy-turvy world, sometimes things are the way they seem.
After trying to find some deeper meaning, the best I could come up with is that it means that people are who they are, and no amount of pressure and prodding and “squeezing” will yield you anything fundamentally different from what their personality and character suggests.
Or it could just be a recipe for making orange juice.
I like the idea of a recipe for making orange juice.
Ingredients
1 orange
Preparation
Slice and squeeze the orange.
Serve immediately.
That’s a fortune that could have come straight from the Analects.
Tsze-chang asked what constituted intelligence. The Master said, “He with whom neither slander that gradually soaks into the mind, nor statements that startle like a wound in the flesh, are successful may be called intelligent indeed. Yea, he with whom neither soaking slander, nor startling statements, are successful, may be called farseeing.”
Tsze-kung asked about government. The Master said, “The requisites of government are that there be sufficiency of food, sufficiency of military equipment, and the confidence of the people in their ruler.”
Tsze-citrus asked about orange juice. The Master said, “When you squeeze an orange, orange juice comes out — because that’s what’s inside.
Dammit – my “You will get new clothes” has been beaten!
I accept defeat with grace.
Heading to Amherst Chinese Food right now. Actually I think that really is the name of teh restaurant.