Parable
There once was a man who loved hamburgers. In fact he loved them so much that ate them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It was pretty much all that he ate. No vegetables or salads, no potato chips, not even dessert.

And he always ate his hamburgers the same way: smothered with catsup, mustard and relish. He couldn't imagine eating them any other way.

Then a remarkable thing happended. By a string of circumstances not worth going into here, for six months the man was unable to purchase additional supplies of the condiments he put on his beloved hamburgers. The day finally arrived when he was forced to face the really of eating his hamburgers (gasp!) plain.

At first it was horribly boring. But after two or three days he began to notice how truly delicious the hamburger itself actually tasted. He learned gradually to notice the subtle flavor of the meat and the delicate nuances of the seseme seeds on the buns (which he had never even seen before). Then a more remarkable thing happened. Having learned how to actually taste food, he began to try other things. He learned to enjoy the taste of carrots and turnips and broiled flounder, ginger scones and mint chocolate-chip ice cream. "How could I have missed all this good food all these years!"

At the end of the six months he still enjoyed "naked" hamburgers (they were still his favorite). In fact he found that he loved them even more than he did in his "catsup, mustard and relish days".

Needless to say when the condiments came back into the market, he didn't rush out to buy them.

"What! And ruin my tasty hamburgers! Never!"
posted by Dave at Thursday, June 03, 2004 -