The fruits of labor

Last week, I had my usual monthly lunch with my good friend Alan "Mr. Fruit Magic" Escalona and, as always, we had one of those long, animated conversations about everything and anything under the sun. We talked about business, the state of the nation, the economy, Kris Aquino’s lovelife, politics, Hilary Duff, Spider-Man, and life in general. But no matter what topic we get into, somehow our conversations invariably and inevitably turn to the subject of fruits.

Of course, that’s not really surprising – Alan’s business is all about fruits and natural fruit juices. But more often than not, it would normally be me who’d bring up the subject of fruits by asking questions from out of the blue like, "Is peanut a fruit?"

Alan, being the CEO of a top fruit beverage business, will not typically back down from any question regarding fruits. "You know," he would confidently answer, "some experts would categorize peanuts as a fruit – but actually, it’s a root crop. But then again, wait ha... well, yes, I think it’s a fruit. Come to think of it, I am not that sure. Maybe not. Because it’s really a nut." Having him in a corner, I would then challenge him further by quoting Smokey Mountain, "But hey, a coconut is a giant nut and it’s called a nut, but then again it’s not a nut – it’s a fruit, right?" He would then pause and think again. And then he would just stare at me and smirk – and we’d eventually burst into laughter. That’s how our typical fruit conversation goes.

Last week I commented, "You know, it must be tough working in your industry." He asked me why and I replied, "You kinda have to work a little harder than most people in trying to promote your products because for one reason or another, people often use fruits to connote negative things. So I guess you have to reverse the perception, huh?"

"What do you mean?" Alan asked with a perplexed look.

"For example," I said, "when a person’s sexual orientation is in question, we say ‘He’s a fruitcake’ or ‘He’s a fruit.’ When a person is trying to criticize someone out of spite, people would say he is a ‘sour grape’. When there’s a black sheep in a family, what do we call him? A ‘bad apple’. When you feel like you’re going crazy, you say, ‘Aargh, I’m going bananas!’ And that’s not all. Bananas can also refer to routinary, boring things – like when we say, ‘Ho-hum, day in, day out, it’s the same banana.’ When we buy a defective car or electronic gadget, we say ‘Oh, man, I bought a lemon.’ One time I was eating a banana split with a girl, and I noticed she wasn’t eating her cherry. I asked her, ‘Hey, can I have your cherry?’ and she whacked me on the head! And let’s not forget, balimbing used to be known as a fruit. Now we use it as a term for political turncoats!"

Alan stared at me for 10 seconds and then said, "Pare, I don’t know where the heck you get your ideas. But you know, you’re right, I never thought of it that way."

There was silence for awhile, both of us staring blankly in different directions. Finally, Alan broke the silence and said, "But hey you know what, fruits aren’t too bad. You know in the Bible, the Lord Himself was referred to as a fruit – you know ‘Blessed is the FRUIT of thy womb, Jesus.’ And when the apostles asked Him how they would be able to tell the holy people and imposters apart, the Lord said, "You will know them by their fruits."

"Hey, that’s a good one, pardner!" I answered, "Yeah, I guess you’re right. I guess it really depends on the way you look at things."

When we parted ways, I became a little philosophical and wondered whether Alan and I just had a breakthrough conversation that would have made Socrates proud, or we were just a couple of wacky guys trying to outwit each other. I guess it’s a combination of both.

I’ve often wondered why we have this tendency to use fruits to connote negative things. Fruits are one of the best things that nature could offer for us to eat. And yet, we malign fruits all the time by using all these expressions. I don’t know. Perhaps it’s the fault of that serpent in the Garden of Eden. He used a fruit to tempt Adam. Since then, we’ve never really looked at fruits the same way. But personally, I think it’s unfair. Fruits are generally good. They are blessings from the soil. But in this imperfect world, we can’t avoid the sprouting of bad fruits. It’s a fact of life.

We Are Measured By Our Fruits

Speaking of fruits, one of my favorite passages in the Good Book is "You will reap what you sow." That’s really one of the great lessons I’ve learned in life. All our actions have corresponding results, corresponding fruits. If you work hard and persevere, you will be fruitful. If you decide to bum around, you end up with nothing. It’s that simple.

When I was young, I thought that Lady Luck would simply come my way and I would just strike it rich one day. When I was in my mid-20s, I realized that that simply wouldn’t happen without my doing anything about it. The only way that could happen is if I won the lotto. Sure, it’s a one in a million chance. But really now, what are the chances? And even if it did happen, I don’t think I could particularly be proud. Why? Because lotto winnings cannot be considered fruits of my labor. And it’s the fruits of our labor that give us that sense of meaning in life.

In this life and in the next, you will always be measured by your fruits. And like I mentioned, there are good fruits and there are bad fruits. Whenever you do something or get busy with a particular endeavor, always try to look at the end result. Always ask yourself, "Ok, so what will be the fruits of this endeavor of mine?" Why? Because that’s going to be our barometer – the measuring stick by which we will know whether we lived a good life.

This principle is very prevalent in the corporate world. In the world of business, you will not be measured by the number of times you arrived at work on time, the number of meetings you attended, the number of e-mails you typed, or that AIDS (As If Doing Something) look that you constantly have on your face the whole day. You will be measured by fruits or results, not by how hard-working you may seem to be.

One time, we hired this very sharp, promising executive. He seemed really smart and he spent all a lot of time on his computer doing flowcharts, organizational charts, strategic business plans, and budgets. He talked to suppliers, worked with possible joint venture partners and name-dropped the most impressive list of contacts. He seemed like a real go-getter. In less than three months we let him go. Why? He was hired to sell and in three months, he hadn’t closed a single deal. Sure, he was busy. But "busy" ain’t results, baby. You can be as busy-looking as you want. But without the results that your company expects of you – without the right fruits – your stressed-out look will really amount to nothing.

So stop for a moment. Check what you’re doing and recall what the company primarily hired you for. Were you hired to be a PR person? If so, right now you should be typing a press release, going out to media outfits or planning a presscon. You will be measured by those standards. If you were hired to be a bean counter, right now you should be working on keeping the company’s financial books and reports in order. If you were hired to be a sales person, right now you should be typing a proposal or you should be on the phone talking to a client.

This is not to say that you box yourself in a particular function. Sure, it’s good to have multiple skills and go beyond your scope of responsibilitiy. But you must remember that you should only try to work on other skills once you’ve mastered already what you’re primarily tasked to do. Don’t try to learn how to cross-over dribble or do a behind-the-back dribble if you haven’t even mastered the art of basic dribbling.

In sum, always keep in mind that you will always be measured by the fruits of your labor. First, try to produce the results that you were hired to produce. If you plant an apple seed, you don’t expect a peach, right? You expect an apple. Same thing with corporations – if you were hired to be a client services manager, you better make sure you serve clients and that clients are happy. Coming up with a marketing plan will not help your cause. Let the marketing head do that. If you’re a client services manager, even if you come up with the audited financial statements of the company, you will still be kicked out because you produced a fruit that is not expected of you.

So remember, strive to produce the fruit that you were meant to produce. Otherwise, you just might end up being a lemon.

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Thanks for your letters! You may e-mail me at rodnepo@yahoo.com.