A Parable of Two Syrups

I have always tried to provide healthy foods for our family, but about a year and a half ago, realized the labels on some of our "healthier" snacks still included the words "CONTAINS BIOENGINEERED FOOD INGREDIENTS". Since that time, I have been very focused on ridding our pantry and fridge of anything with those words. There has been some grumbling from T and Marcus, but for the most part, we have found substitutes they have deemed palatable. The one sticky point (pun intended) has been pancake syrup. I have tried no less than three organic/non-GMO syrups, and T still insists they are not as good. My dad actually brought T some regular old pancake syrup a few weeks ago, and I have allowed it…haha. So the other day, I made some homemade pancakes (with non-GMO ingredients, of course😉), and set them out for T's breakfast. I also had two bottles of syrup there...one organic and, in his words, the "real syrup". I told him he had a choice-the one that presents as sweet and perfect, but actually contains fake ingredients that, over time, could be harmful to him, or the one that contains one pure ingredient, nothing artificial. Guess which one he picked? 😂 In the same way, we often face decisions with two seemingly sweet options.  Do we make choices based on the surface presentation? Why don’t we dig deeper, “read the labels”, and pick the healthier choice? Instead of conditioning ourselves to enjoy the better path, we tend to pick the easy, instant-gratification one, without thought of future consequences. Food for thought…pun intended again.