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Hood River News Editorial
October 18, 2006
As the pears and apples ripen and workers harvest the fruit, and the
county prepares for the Harvest Fest, who better to turn to for
inspiration than Bartlett’s (Quotations)?
Sometimes you find the quote you want on the topic at hand; sometimes
you find some complicated comments:
“It is easy to say that all things are both good and beautiful at once
and that these qualities exist in nature simultaneously,” wrote
American writer Walter Kerr. “It is not possible, however, to enjoy
what is ‘good’ about a thing and what is ‘beautiful’ about it at the
same moment. A pear is good: to know its goodness I must eat it. A
pear may be beautiful: to know its beauty I must not eat it, I must
resolutely refuse its goodness, I must let it alone. Goodness yields
itself to use; the reason I am justified in calling a pear ‘good’ is
that when I do use it, when I eat it, it proves to be good for me. But
in the process of eating it, of using it up, I am of course destroying
all of the properties that enabled me to call it ‘beautiful’.”
Well, Mr. Kerr, your point is well taken but it’s also worth
considering that, given its flavor and nutritional value, a pear’s
true beauty is found in the eating.
Also in Bartlett’s, more complications, this time from Ralph Waldo
Emerson: “It is commonly said by farmers that a good pear or apple
costs no more time or pains to rear than a bad one, so I would have no
work of art, no speech, action, or thought, or friend, but the best.”
Growers around here would vehemently deny the first half of Mr.
Emerson’s comment, for in the hundred years since he wrote this,
market forces and such things as labor and environmental regulations
have driven up costs and driven down profits when it comes to growing
the world-renown pears for which this valley is known.
But they would agree with the second half of the comment, as growers
here settle for nothing but the best.
With Harvest Fest (details on page A1) happening all around us this
weekend, we can all enjoy the best. Whether you go to the Expo Center
or any of the agricultural and crafts-oriented events around the
valley, take the time this weekend with the Hood River County ABCs —
Anjou, Bartlett and Comice. These are just three varieties of local
pears, the Oregon State Fruit and star of our local economy. |
