Imagine this:
You’re an adult.
Healthy.
Competent.
Happy.
Appropriately motivated to survive and thrive.
And you are told to eat some broccoli.
You are told it’s good for you!
Consuming it will,
they say,
improve your health.
It will,
they say,
protect you.
It won’t,
they say,
hurt you.
There it is:
the broccoli,
on display.
Promoted proudly,
celebrated with enthusiasm,
it seems,
by everyone.
Broccoli.
Oh, beautiful broccoli!
Awaited by so many, now available; an answer to their prayers. Broccoli for all….
But somehow, you do not want this broccoli.
You just … don’t.
Can you imagine that?
Now imagine this.
You are told to eat your broccoli.
And you respond, politely, that you would rather not.
But you are told you’re not allowed that choice.
So you are held;
restrained,
your jaw forced open,
with broccoli shoved past your teeth and
down your throat.
Can you imagine that?
Do you wince at the idea of being
forced against your will to ingest
broccoli?
It’s good for you, surely, that broccoli.
It will,
they say,
protect you.
It won’t,
they say,
hurt you.
They’re sure of it.
They all agree….
Imagine that.