Losing Track

Why are some fruits labelled 'organic' and some aren't? I was under the impression that 'organic' meant that the item labelled such was grown naturally. How else are you supposed to grow an apple? On a metal pole? They all grow on the trees, I thought. Perhaps, I guesstimate, the 'organic' in this instance refers to the healthy nature of the fruit's development and growth, ie., the lack of antibiotics, rat death poisons or pesticides sprinkled on top of the blossoming fruit in its infant stages.

That could be 'organic,' I supposed. That apple over there was grown on a metal, pesticide-dipped, stripper's pole and this apple right here was grown in a sunny orchard on the most healthy tree in the entire damned known universe. And the difference in price is a buck a pound.

Well, I don't trust any of it anymore. Misinformation stifles and drowns. Our news channels, our internet's social sites, our stream of consciousness. We're inundated. And yet we continue to use the labels. Organic. Farmer's Choice. Nature's Own. Democrat. Republican. Gay. Straight. Gypsy.

The thing is, you'd think we'd have learned our lesson with using labels. We once labelled fountains, after all. Look where that got us.

It got us to not label fountains.

But no matter! Still to this day, we continue to apply the labels! On clothing. On foods. Drinks. On campaigns. Movements. Labels are plastered, stuck, glued, sewn, adhered, and pinned to every single item you come into contact with on a daily basis. Every. Item. (This blog, even. It's called 'Blogger.')

When's the last time you used a non brand-name anything? An unlabeled bag of chips? Drank from an unlabeled cola? And no, Dr. Thunder doesn't count. Still a label, still a brand.

Yet, that all makes sense. We need labels, don't we? How are we supposed to tell things apart if there are no labels on them?

The labels remind of us the product's integrity. We must have them. Lord knows I label (sign) every single piece of art I've ever been proud of. The ones I'm not proud of? I label with someone else's name, of course, what's it to you. #CLAUSSTUDIOS

And the same goes for the big name manufacturers. They're proud of their product, proud of the way you've become addicted to its fantastically so-so taste, aesthetically horrific package design and magnificently mundane logo.

It's Gluten-Free! The label says so. May as well take a couple then, label-believer! I bought a bushel!

And to think I used to peel off labels on beer bottles! They'd get a little moist from the chilly delight inside and the labels, they'd dampen, making them ripe for a speedy peel-off. This served no purpose other than to pass the time or to satisfy a nervous tick I'd developed for when too long of an awkward silence elapses on a drink-date with a non label peeler.

Wellp, that label-peeling I did? Guess what.

Oh my. This is the part when I was about to compare the peeling off of a beer label to desegregation.

Man, whatta damn mess this post has become. It had promise in the top portion, maybe the first couple of sentences. I liked 'labels' as a through-line, but somewhere along the way it went astray. It was supposed to be about damned 'organic' food and how quickly I could make you fall asleep by pontificating on said subject, which, of course, I know absolute jackshit about.

But it doesn't matter because I lost track.

And that's fine. That's fine. Losing track keeps it interesting. If we always kept track, well then, we'd always know. And where's the adventure in that. The damned joy of it all. I despise the Know-It-All.

Sometimes I lose track to keep sanity.

I highly suggest it.

Now go peel off your label.