I know my husband is probably groaning over me telling my orange story again. He has heard it plenty of times. Sorry honey, it must be done. The world must know my citrus saga. The people of this great planet deserve to have the blinders taken off on what our 5 pound bags of oranges really amount to in the present day. Are you ready for this? 3.25 pounds.
Not long ago, I was hovering over a display of beautiful bagged oranges. They were on sale and stacked up in all of their glory at the front of the produce section. Though I don’t recall the actual price, I remember thinking it was a good deal for a 5 pound bag. I picked a bag, placed it in my cart and went on my merry way. Something was nagging at me though. I kept looking at my bag of oranges. It sure looked petite. Though it doesn’t take a great deal of might to toss a 5 pound bag in the cart, that particular bag sailed through the air with a fingertip’s effort. My curiosity started to get the best of me and I decided to hunt down a scale. A few minutes later, I had to do a bit of searching, I was staring at the indeniable truth. My 5 pound bag of oranges weighed a hair over 3 pounds. Unlucky pick? Nope. Guess who had nothing better to do than return to the orange display and start weighing bags? That would be me. It took 7 bags to find one weighing near 5 pounds. Most were hovering around the 3-3.5 pound mark. Some reached an admirable 4 pounds. None were over 5 pounds…surprise, surprise.
I could go on and on about the ridiculous looks and comments store management gave me when I shared my concerns. Afterall, so what if the bags are short a pound or two? That’s a blog for another day. Today, I’m thinking about the strength of a label. How easy it is to walk away with 3 pounds of oranges, no matter what inconsistencies may exist, simply because something or someone is telling us differently. What other labels have fooled me? What other labels have fooled you? When something or someone is identified a certain way, do you take that label as the unbendable truth? Now I challenge myself to get out the scale and measure things. I don’t brush off nagging feelings. It’s hard to know how many 3 pound bags of oranges are actually out there. There is some comfort in knowing I’m better prepared to spot them.
Don’t think for a minute this is the last blog on labels. My Australian friend Helen, mentioned in my About page, hates the labels people plaster on themselves and others. She’s really helped me to see things differently. Stay tuned.
