So ……. (Don’t you hate it when my posts start that way)?

I’m popping popcorn and as I’m watching it spin around, I had a few thoughts.

We have one of those countertop popping machines, oh yeah, we fancy here in Sumstine-land.

I’m not sure if I feel badly for that kernel that didn’t pop, or if I admire him.

Here’s this little guy – he’s been engineered for a very long time to be popped into an edible treat. He’s been researched and studied to have the ideal moisture content to get maximum poppage. He’s been both planted and harvested and has gone through his whole life waiting for this exact moment.

Maybe he’s in the popcorn container with his brothers an sisters that were on the same ear, or perhaps he’s with distant cousins that were in the same field of corn. Perhaps he was a stranger to all the other kernals, just waiting for their one and only chance to perform.

Picture a popcorn kernel sitting on the bench waiting for that 1 chance to get in the game. But when the time came – NOPE – not happening.

Did the pressure get too much and he couldn’t handle it (picture Scott Norwood) or was he primed and ready “HERE IT IS – IT’S MY BIG CHANCE” – only to get elbowed out of the way by the popcorn kernel bully?

When he’s sitting on the bottom, unpopped, surrounded by all his popped buddies – does he feel like a total failure? Are his friends laughing at him – making fun of him? Is he an outcast, not part of the cool buttery hot crowd?

OR

Is this little guy a total bad ass? Was he spinning around the cooker, just looking for his chance to escape? Did he shout “OH HELL NO !!! I AM NOBODY’S SNACK !!!” Is he a rebel? Does he reject the social norm that all the other kernel’s have accepted and this guy will not follow the crowd? Did his mom tell him, “if all the other kernels jump off a cliff ……”?

Was he inspired by a movie he saw; “We will no go quietly into the night. We will not vanish without a fight. We’re going to live on. We’re going to survive !!!” And then a final, “WHO’S WITH ME?” before jumping out in his act of defiance?

So – I ask you, this unpopped kernel, is his life:

1. a total failure, unable to fulfill his entire purpose of existence?

Or

2 the ultimate salute to being a bad ass to buck the system that is asking him to settle and accept his fate?

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That’s where I’m stuck.

• Ramblings