How do I know if I choose correctly?

Because seriously, some things look the same.  Feel the same.  Even smell the same.

Like picking produce.  There are ways to figure out if the orange will taste good:  heavy fruit means lots of juice.  Color has little to do with taste.  And pineapples:  more yellow (I’ve been told) on the outside means it’s riper.  And if the leaves in the center come out easily, you know it will taste good.  I’ve tested this on two pineapples this summer and so far, I’ve chosen well.

But sometimes, even the heavy orange doesn’t taste good.  Or the nectarine that smells so much like a July morning doesn’t actually measure up.  I cut open the deep red strawberry and the inside is white and bland.  On the outside, it looks just like the one that tastes like sugar.

Sometimes you just don’t know.  You have to commit to the fruit and take a bite.

So what about real life?

Schools for my girls.

Charities we give to.

What I spend my time and energy on.

Sometimes it all looks the same on the outside.  One school may look, feel, smell the same as the one down the street.

And how can I possibly choose between the thousands of viable, worthy causes on this planet?  Do I give my money to dig wells?  Buy shoes? Fight disease? Stop war?  I’m only one woman with limited money. Where do I give it when they all are deserving?

And then there is my time.  When I get some time to myself, do I spend the afternoon doing the writing that I’ve been pushing aside for weeks? Do I call the friend I haven’t spoken to in months or do I clean my daughters’ rooms, giving them a fresh place to play when they get home from their grandmother’s house.

All of it is good.  Or seems good.  How do I make the choice?  There are no good produce indicators on things like this.

I think it’s a little like eating a strawberry.  I have to use my best judgment and take a bite.  Choose the best school that we feel comfortable with.  Choose  a charity that I know is doing good things and spending money wisely.  Choose the to do the most pressing thing with my time and trust that the rest will be completed in time.

I just have to commit and take a bite.

Because sometimes, one thing really isn’t better than the other.  If this is true, with certain things, I can’t really make a wrong choice.

HOW DO YOU CHOOSE BETWEEN THINGS THAT SEEM EQUALLY GOOD?

Tags: charities, choices, nectarines, oranges, pineapple, strawberries