The Killing of Male Papayas rooted on land is most likely to bear much fruit.
At the course of their lives,
A creative essay on explaining the usefulness of Philosophy
By: Sem. Paul Vincent D. Rubio
What pain it is to be called futile. Papayas, especially female
papayas, bear fruit and are gems to farmers. Their male counterparts absorb
nourishment from the soil, are watered every day, get proper sunlight and
yet they do not bear fruit. In the end, they are cut down for their futility.
The importance of a fruit-bearing plant is generally seen on its
capacity to bear fruit. If not, it goes down to the compost pit. It is sad to
know male papayas’ fate. What we did not know is that male papayas have
a different role compared to that of their female counterparts. There is a
reason why they must not be called papayas. Instead, they must rightly be
called papayos for obvious reasons: that they are male. But what does
papayo connote even further and deeper? There is a Filipino word pa-payo
which means to give advice. A Papayo’s role in the Plant Kingdom is not to
bear fruit but to think. A tree that stands still, sucks nourishment, gives
advice and meditates in peace, that is a Papayo. By its being, it fulfills its
essence. It seems that it is not doing anything, but in reality, it is doing
something! And we can’t see it. And that’s exactly the point! How would a
Papayo do its role, i.e., to give advice, if in the first-place plants do not ask?
A Papayo is patiently waiting to give someone an advice. Sadly, no one
comes. Plants are too full of themselves and believe on their own capacity.
They do not go asking for advice from a Papayo. They do not seek help
from the one that is thinking anymore for they think that what they are doing
and producing are enough. In reality, they are not really happy. Producing
fruits is quite tiresome. Plants do not stop producing until death not realizing
that they did not really live. A Papayo is silent, still, and steadfast and yet it
is happy. It is not doing anything anymore other than meeting its basic
sustenance for life for it has achieved eudaimonia. It does not want anything
anymore, happily waiting for a farmer to cut him down and still not feel sad
about it. A Papaya, on the other hand, is sad when it is cut down. Its roots
go deep on land for it does not want to leave. Consequently, a plant deeply
plants bear fruit so as to propagate and maintain their immortality through
their seeds for they know they shall meet their end. Papaya and all other
fruit bearing trees are deeply rooted on land for they do not want to leave
this world. A Papayo is a plant not deeply rooted on land for it always
wants to ascend and leave the confinement of this world. Its principle is
outwardly.
The Papayo once asked Mangga, “What good is it to produce
bountiful fruits and yet not be able to bring it to the world hereafter?”
Mangga pondered on that question and realized that she would indeed not
be able to bring anything to the world hereafter. Thus, Mangga does not
bear fruit anymore. Papayo once pitied Guava. It saw Guava being abused
by seminarians. Its fruits are not yet ripe and yet seminarians pluck them.
Papayo approached Guava and said, “What pain is it to see your fruits being
plucked immaturely. Those people abort a future that could have been also a
fruit bearing Guava like you. They forcibly detach your fruits from you and
eat them.” Guava, for your information, has two sisters producing bountiful
sweet guavata beside her. They equally meet the consumption rate of
people-eating-guavas. But tragedies came and among the three, one died
and another gave up bearing good fruit due to its disability. One remains
healthy and alive. Thus, it has to fulfill and meet the needs of the people-
eating-guavas full-time. In the end, it cannot bear as much and as good as
before. People despised its glory days by abusing it. Papayo tries to
persuade her to rest but he is neglected. Guava wants it that way. It is
difficult to change someone that is already accustomed to what they have
been doing from childhood to adulthood. Papayo left her to her own devices
and his life goes on.
Among the Plant Kingdom, under the genus of fruit-bearing plants,
Papayo has no significant role fruit production-wise, and yet it is the
happiest! Thus, this is a call to live a life just like a Papayo and not any fruit
bearing tree. It is through a life of silence, stillness, steadfastness, calmness,
and peace do we really achieve a happy life not with a busy, rigid,
“productive” life—by productive I mean producing riches that are subject to
corruption and will not be brought to the life hereafter.