Chinese Proverb

My girlfriend’s parents are in town from Hong Kong for a visit.  Her father is interested in gardening and cooking so we brought him up to my house to check out the garden.

As he helped me harvest tomatoes, I came across one that was severely damaged on one side.  The skin was broken and that half was starting to rot.  I hurled it over to the compost.

Later my GF explained that her father asked why I threw away the tomato.  She said it was because I’m American and therefore wasteful.  I told her the tomato was half rotten, I didn’t understand how that made me wasteful, she said her father said the tomato was half fine and didn’t know why I wouldn’t have just thrown away the rotten half.

Point taken!  As frugal as I think I am and as frugal as others in my peer group think I am, I’m really still a product of American super-market culture.  Don’t get me wrong, I know how lucky I am to have been born with that luxury, and I’m not complaining.  This was just an “ah-ha!” moment for me.

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