Menachem Bluming Muses: Sweet Forbidden Fruit

This is one of the biggest secrets of life. Good doesn't always taste good. But not-good often looks and tastes good. 

It has to be this way. Imagine it was the other way around. If good always felt good, and bad just felt bad, who would do bad? Our challenge is to make the right choices in life. But for that we need a choice. 

 

There are two paths to choose from: the path of good and the path of no good. One path leads to true happiness, the other is a dead-end leading nowhere. And it isn’t so easy to tell which is which.  

 

G-d wanted to make it fair, so He let bad look good. The bad path has nothing to offer, so G-d gave it good PR. The wrong path is so much more tempting. Unhealthy food is the yummiest. And doing the wrong thing seems so much fun.

 

But that’s just looks. The good path is where real enjoyment lies. The choice is between superficial good or real good. As our sages wisely said: “Don’t look at the packaging, look at what's in it.” Don’t fall for the glitter, dig for real gold. Don’t do what feels good, do what is good. You’ll see, there’s nothing yummier. 

 

Mendel (Menachem) Bluming from many sources primarily Pirkei Avot 4:20 

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