Picking the Low-Hanging Fruit

You’ve heard that cliché before. In business, “Pick the low-hanging fruit” simply means to take the easiest deal. Its derivation is obvious. The lowest fruit on a tree is the easiest to pick. You simply reach up and pluck it off.

For a couple of weeks now, I’ve been eying some guavas on a neighbor’s tree that’s been hanging over our driveway, one in particular. Each day it got yellower and yellower. Each day I could see the pesky bulbul birds also giving it the eye.

Today, I succumbed and picked the guava. I mean, it was just hanging there, low and easy to grab. I think I’ll let it sit for a day or so, then slice it up and enjoy the watermelon-pink flesh with vigor, which I’m sure will take me back to my youth when we used to raid wild guava trees on bike rides in Hilo, Hawaii, where I grew up.

My grandmother’s words will echo in my mind as I eat the guava: “Don’t eat too many guavas, or the seeds will collect in your appendix and you’ll have to get an operation.”