Peach Juice

My sister and I coined a beautiful parameter for comparison. “It’s like peach juice” means something special to us.

Backpacking in Greece, we did something very smart. We realised that we were constantly thirsty and often in need of energy. So we took to buying large packs of juice, rather than shopping all the time for food, and hunting for water fountains. It was an intelligent thing to do – it saved money and kept us active. Both were equally important, and we felt good about ourselves for having thought of it. Later, we would use the same carton for water, filling it at fountains, carrying it around with us.

Unfortunately, I don’t like fruits much, and so, I don’t like juice much. As a result, we ended up buying one particular brand of mixed fruit juice all the time. It was delicious, but repetitive.
One fine day, we decided that we would try something different. We decided to buy a large pack of peach juice.

We drank it diligently, making appreciative noises, and eventually, we finished it. As usual, we used the carton for water. The water tasted weird.

“This water tastes horrible!” my sister said, making a face.

“I know, it does. It tastes exactly like the peach juice!”

Both of us burst out laughing, and could not stop. It was simple. We had to like the peach juice because we had paid for it (if I remember right, it was more expensive than our mixed fruit juice), so we kept saying we liked it until we’d finished, to try and convince ourselves that we did. Once we had finished, we were free to say what we liked!

That is when we created the comparison. If there’s something you have to do, you might as well like it. Afterwards, you can dislike it to your heart’s content. That’s like peach juice.