BONZOH GRAFFITI SERIES
EPISODE: THE MANGO TREE
The day's work was finally over.
As the scorching afternoon sun slowly mellowed, BONZOH and a few friends gathered beneath the broad shade of an old mango tree at their local shopping centre. They stretched their tired legs, exchanged stories from work, and welcomed the cool breeze that rustled through the leaves.
One of the friends looked up at the tree and smiled.
"Brothers," he began, "have you ever noticed something strange?"
Everyone turned to him.
"Look at this mango tree. It's enormous. Its trunk is thick, its branches are strong, and it looks capable of carrying fruits as big as pumpkins or watermelons. Yet all it produces are small mangoes.
Now look at pumpkins and watermelons. Their plants are just weak vines crawling on the ground, yet they carry fruits hundreds of times bigger than these mangoes.
Why would God assign such unequal tasks? Why not switch them? Let the mighty mango tree carry the pumpkins and let the vines produce mangoes."
The group chuckled.
"It actually makes sense," one of them admitted.
BONZOH smiled before responding.
"My brothers, someone once said that if you change the way you look at things, the things you look at begin to change.
Now imagine this...
Suppose this mango tree produced pumpkins instead of mangoes.
Picture us sitting here exactly where we are now, enjoying this beautiful shade."
Everyone looked up.
BONZOH continued.
"Then suddenly..."
THUD!
"A pumpkin falls from twenty feet above and lands on someone's head."
The whole group burst into laughter.
One friend instinctively covered his head while another joked, "Hiyo si kivuli tena, ni mortuary waiting bay!"
Even BONZOH laughed before continuing.
"Perhaps the Creator saw something we often fail to see.
Heavy fruits belong close to the ground, where they cannot fall and injure anyone.
The mango tree gives us shade and fruits from above, but in sizes that are safe enough that even if one drops unexpectedly, the worst that may happen is you pick it up, dust it off, and enjoy it."
Silence followed.
The laughter slowly turned into reflection.
BONZOH looked around at his friends and said,
"Many times we judge life too quickly.
We call something unfair simply because we haven't understood its purpose.
Sometimes what appears to be a mistake is actually wisdom beyond our understanding.
The problem isn't always what we're looking at.
Sometimes it's the way we're looking at it.
Before complaining about how life has arranged things, pause.
Observe.
Reflect.
There may be a reason hidden behind what appears unfair."
The friends nodded thoughtfully.
One of them smiled and said,
"Hapo kweli mhenga bazenga!"
They all laughed once more.
Think Twice. Follow Once.
— BONZOH
By. Paul mwangi admiralstorylab