Purbeck Days: Need, Not Greed

Day 85

14 August 2009

We went to Holme farm to go fruit-picking, again. The raspberries weren't any good today - all the good ones had gone, but there were lots of unripe fruit left, so a trip back in a week or so will be on the cards. We did pick redcurrents, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries, though.

The various flies (I don't think that is a wasp, but one of those hover-fly thingies, correct me if I'm wrong) sharing this blackberry caught my eye. They were all sharing the same fruit, despite being different species. There was no fighting or pushing eachother out of the way. There was plenty of the berry for each of them, and they each enjoyed their fill before heading off somewhere else.

None of them were greedy. They didn't overeat, they didn't outstay their welcome. There was no territorial issue, no fighting. A peaceful, harmonious time was had by all.

This scene made me consider the news this week about the "perfect storm" - the issue surrounding global warming, world increase in population, and food shortages. It made me think about how we all need to change our eating habits and accept that in the future, the food that we take for granted now, may not be so freely and cheaply available. Are we all going to continue our greed until it's too late? Are we all going to carry on eating as a past-time as much as a necessity; or are we going to start eating the amounts of food we really need, rather than the foods we want to eat, 24 hours a day, on demand, there at our fingertips? In nature, we see that no animal is so greedy by design. Does that include humans, too?