Washing My Fruit
I assume that everyone has heard of the concept of The Hundredth Monkey, but since I have been thinking about it a lot recently, I thought I'd just jot down the outline here for future reference, and as a way to amuse myself while my tea brews.
It's an extended metaphor about how change happens. I don't remember whether I read about it somewhere, or if somebody told me the story, but it made so much sense to me, and it seemed so hopeful, that it stuck firmly in my memory and became my own. Let's see if I can make a good blog out of it.
Once upon a time, there was a troupe of 100 monkeys living on an island. They weren't any special breed or type; just basic fruit-eating monkeys. They didn't live very long, and weren't particularly smart or able monkeys, but they were adequate.
One day, while picking and eating fruit, one of the monkeys, who I'll call Ook, had just managed to pick a particularly nice piece of fruit, had a big, juicy bite of it, and slipped and dropped it in the pond under the fruit tree. Poor Ook was very hungry, as she was pregnant, and it had taken a lot of effort to get to the top of that tree where the ripest, sweetest fruit grew. Damned if she was going to give up her prize to the pond!
So, she laboriously climbed down from the tree and fished around at the edge of the water until she was able to retrieve her breakfast. She was offended by its wetness, but decided to wipe it off and eat it anyway.
And, lo and behold, it was actually pretty good. No sand to hurt her teeth, no bugs or bug eggs to upset her tummy or give her parasites, and the little bit of water left on the fruit was cool and refreshing. There and then, Ook decided to drop her fruit into the water, on purpose, forever after. Which she did.
When her baby was born, she fed him washed fruit, and when he was old enough for solid food, taught him to wash it himself when he began gathering his own. He grew up to be stronger, healthier, bigger and smarter than the rest of the monkeys his age, because of his improved food supply.
Being an altruistic sort of monkey, Ook mentioned to her friends and colleagues on the island that washing fruit was a better way to live. She pointed out the advantages of the process and gave everybody the benefit of her experience. She pointed to her strong, smart, healthy fruit-washing son as an example.
Of course, as with monkeys everywhere, there were scoffers and nay-sayers. Most of the monkeys laughed at her at first, and many scorned her as an iconoclast. What they had always done, they would always do. Change is often considered to be dangerous and unnecessary, even when there are proven benefits. Ook's personal life was brought into question, and everything about her was scrutinized and mostly disapproved.
Some of the monkeys, though, those more adventurous or curious or loyal to their friend Ook, decided to give it a try. Most of them liked the changes in their teeth and tummies right away, and stuck with the program. Some tried it once, then decided it was too much trouble and gave up on the idea. But the ones who began to wash their food regularly and began to reap the benefits, raised the percentage of Monkeys Who Wash Fruit from Ook's one percent to several.
Eventually, though, as the new generation of monkeys was born, learned to wash their fruit, enjoyed the benefits of the change, the idea began to be less strange, more familiar, and while Ook had originally been reviled as some sort of Health Nut or Diet Crazy, she was now given second looks from a lot of the monkeys who had refused even to consider her fruit-washing method at first. The percentage continued to rise.
Soon, most of the monkeys on the island were washing their fruit and living longer, healthier, better lives as a result. Some of the older monkeys, who had known Ook back when she was young and foolish, still refused to go along with the fruit-washing, and bashed the whole idea to each other. But at this point in Monkey Island history, they were now seen as the crazy outsiders.
When I was a kid, nobody ate yogurt or whole grains or recycled. Exercise was for post-partum moms and Jack LaLanne. There were lots of jokes about Health Nuts and other suspicious types.
Now, after the whole scoffing and experimentation process has occurred and run through its cycle, we eat yogurt and granola and give them to our children. We save bottles, cans and newspapers. Jack LaLanne no longer has to do extravagant stunts to get people off the couch. We value the things which formerly were considered too esoteric for normal society. The Hundredth Monkey is alive and well.
Recently, I introduced Goji Berries to my department at work. Just call me Ook.
Tags: change