going bananas

There were four bananas on the tabletop.

And one of them was the one for me.

So how do I choose between four bananas?
Maybe I should take the one closest to the edge of the table.
Maybe I should take the one furthest away from my reach.
Maybe I should take the one with the least number of black spots.
Maybe I should take the one that wasn't really remarkable in any possible way.

Should I just close my eyes and pick one and leave it all to chance?
Should I just do what every one else does and take the one nearest to me?
Should I try to be different and take one of the others?
Or do most people try to be different and take one of the others and I'd really be different if I didn't try to be different and pick the one closest to me after all...?

Is this really as easy as everyone makes out?
My whole life might depend on which banana I pick as an after dinner snack.
Maybe this decision will affect all other decisions I make in my life.
And therefore I am, right now, at a crossroads. Four paths of life. And at the door of each is a single banana, each a miniscule bit different from the rest.

Maybe the banana second from the right has a deadly poisonous worm inside it from the deepest jungles of Africa and if I choose that I'll die instantly and go to heaven.

Maybe the next banana has a blessing laid upon it from God or whoever it is lays those blessings that whosoever eats this banana becomes the happiest rich guy in the world.

Maybe one has a curse saying I'll fail all the next seven exams I give in a row and pass the eighth one with flying colours.

Maybe the last banana is just an ordinary banana that won't change my life in any stupid way.

Maybe one banana would suit me and one wouldn't.
Maybe the one to the right would be too grainy for me.
Maybe the second from the left would be too sweet.
Maybe the first from the left would be just right but I would never know because I'd have eaten the third from the left which wasn't right at all.
Or maybe all of them would suit me equally well.

How can you tell with bananas? They're all wrapped up inside skins where you can't see them.
You can't even sample one and then leave it and try the other. Because once you choose, you've chosen and you're banana sticks with you for better or for worse.

I gave up. And I walked away from the table. Maybe I'd come back later and choose my banana.
Or maybe I'd let other people take away the bananas till there was only one left and that would be the one for me and it wouldn't be my fault if my banana didn't suit me because I had no other choice.

The trouble with careers is, you can't do that.