The tomato plant

I was in the backyard this evening after dinner, and spied these two plump orange cherry tomatoes. Not quite ripe yet, I decided to let them ripen on the vine for a bit longer. Wondering why my parents hadn't picked them yet, I decided to leave them on the vine as vine ripened tomatoes are the sweetest and most delicious.

My dad later went outside and came back in. "Look at these two tomatoes I found outside! I can't believe I didn't see them earlier!" (in cantonese)

"But dad, they're not ripe yet"

"But something might get them before we do." (in cantonese)

I suppose this exchange typically describes how my parents are: overly cautious to the point that they don't get to enjoy the sweetness of life. It frustrates me to see unripe produce (i.e. green tomatoes) from our garden on the table, for the purpose of preventing any harm from coming to them in case we don't get our share. I know that perhaps their behaviour is only formed by their past experiences, being at one point, new immigrants to canada. But it pains me to see that they would rather withdraw than fully enjoy the potential of being.

I remember one other time in Utah, we drove out to a state park. It was getting a late, and the drive into the park was longer than anticipated. When we got to the booth, we realized we had to pay an entrance fee, and my father decided that it was better to turn around and go to the free park instead. This was 13 miles already into the park! We were almost there! Deterred by a mere $8 admission fee! When my father found out afterwards that the park featured a geological formation that he had talked about all this time, he was crestfallen, and kicked himself for days afterwards. We were so close! But it was better to be cautious.

But back to the tomatoes. The tomatoes have been safe from animals so far. Would it hurt for the tomatoes to stay on the vine an extra couple of days? Would it hurt to let the other tomatoes stay on the vine so that they are at least a shade of orange instead of that unripe green? I know I can't change how my parents are, but I wish that they would realize that at their age sometimes there are better things to life than being so damn safe about everything.