Seedless Watermelon - An Easter Observation

Today is Easter Monday.  I confess that from a religious perspective I have no idea what the significance is (if you do please comment).  Whatever the reason my kids are home and another day off school is great no matter what the reason.  Ask them.

Easter Monday for me is a reminder that Easter has passed for another year.  All that  has happened  causes me to reflect on much.  From the difficult time on Friday watching The Passion of the Christ to the preparations for Easter breakfast and the Easter egg hunt for the kids at church (no chocolate bunnies or chickens were hurt during this event) to the Easter Sunday celebration service.  There is such a huge gulf of contrast from Friday to Sunday.  Emotionally speaking it is exhausting.  There is much to be said about this time and the implications for humanity.  A well of thought to process and delve into but I will not do that today. Too tired.  Also my wife thinks that my posts are too long sometimes. She may be right. Maybe. So I will write only about an observation I have made.

Not only does Easter Monday remind me that another Easter has passed but it reminds me that summer is just around the corner.  The weather is particularly nice today so no doubt there will be many that go for hikes and long strolls and take in all that nature offers. Some will perhaps be fortunate enough to take out their motorcycles and get out on the open road and pretend that they are Peter Fonda or James Dean.  Some will enjoy the opportunity to take their kids to the park.  Others will begin the long and arduous task of cleaning out their ridiculously filthy garages.  Which one do you think I will be doing (I do not own a motorcycle)? 

With the approaching summer most folks start dreaming of where they will holiday or what lake they will tour or what destination they will experience.  They are all worthy dreams but for me  the anticipation of summer causes me to begin to salivate over the thought of eating watermelon!  Eating watermelon is something that regardless of your age causes you to look and act like a child again - slobbering all over yourself.  How wonderful.   I am sure you can remember those days when summer was really worry free, just sitting and eating that glorious fruit.  Of course spitting the seeds at your sibling as well.   It was a true time of joy.  I like those times.  I miss those times.  Alas,  they can never be as good as they once were.  It's not because I am getting closer to forty and have begun to sound like one of those old guys at the bank complaining about the way things were (although I fear I am) .  It's not because summer never seems to be as long as it once was (although it isn't).  It's not because I have become dignified and would not spit seeds any more (I certainly would and dignified - I hope not).  It is not for any of these reasons.  It is because somewhere someone thought that the world would be a better place if their were no longer seeds in our watermelons!  Yah, I know barbaric. It is true though - no seeds in our watermelons - what were they thinking?  I mean was life really that difficult because you had to take a few minutes and remove those little black assurances of fruit next year.  Or was it too difficult to hold a paper towel and spit seeds into it - is everyone too dignified - too regal for that practice?  What next - seedless sunflower seeds!  Its almost too much for me to bear.  And try finding the old style watermelon -  it is easier finding a rotary telephone.

What is even more distressing is that my children have become victims of this injustice.  It saddens me to think that my two darlings will never have a watermelon seed spitting fight - I fear for their future. What really scares me and irritates me, even more than the fact that untold amounts of money were spent on research into discovering some way to grow a watermelon with no seeds when a ridiculous percentage of the world's population has such a shortage of food that  many thousands ( you read my scarcasm correct) die each day, is that my own children are complaining about the seeds in the seedless watermelon.  You read correct - the seeds in the seedless watermelon.  How spoiled have we as a society become that there  are too many seeds in a seedless watermelon?  My kids are not to blame - they are the victims.  They never grew up in a world with watermelon filled with seeds - this is the world they were born into. I sat one day with my son eating seedless watermelon (I lamented every time I did not have to spit out seeds) and he looked up at me and said "Daddy I like watermelon but there are too many seeds". I almost wept. Too many little white insignificant pods (tough life kid).  I realized after he said it that his comment, though distressing, was probably the best definition of the condition of  the world in the West today.  How spoiled and self absorbed we have become that seeds in a fruit are a big concern. What have we become?  I am certainly not implying that technology is bad I for one am very glad that I do not have to get up from my perch and change the blessed channel  but do we draw the line ever?  Is there an expense to all the comforts that we feel we need besides the absence of watermelon seeds?  It leads me to ask a question -  "Can we do better with the blessing of resources we have?"  (And who said God made a mistake when he decided to create the watermelon with seeds anyway?)

We are blessed in the West with more resources than the majority of the world. Perhaps sometimes we should look to the removal of others real and terrifying problems than our own pet peeves. Just an observation.


Rest assurred for all of you out there that enjoy your watermelon without seeds I have no intention of starting a coalition to outlaw their production. I have come to loathe the word coalition (if you are Canadian you know why). I will certainly pray for you though. I leave you with a simple question.

When Jesus said that he came to give life and give it to its full (John 10:10) did that have anything to do with seedless watermelon?

An Easter ponderance.  This summer enjoy your watermelon with or without seeds. :)