If we really think about it, how many times do you value your neighbour's oranges? 

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I know you don't have the money, you just can't afford to buy one. You couldn't even collect the money to buy a simple orange during these 30 years of precarious work cleaning that traveling agency's bathroom. 

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Still, have you stopped today to admire those beautiful shiny oranges of your neighbour? It's almost winter out here. We are exactly on that time of the year, the approaching of the transition. The transition from hot weather and the kissing sun to the harsh freezing touch of the wind on your bones. Eventually they will freeze your joints and you'll feel pain. Maybe not yet, give it 10 more years... 

These oranges might not be relevant to you now, but eventually, probably 10 years from now you'll notice the amazing colour, at least a simple comfort for your tingling bones and tough throat. 

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You know, oranges don't really hold the cure for the flu and other weaknesses of the body. They only make your body forget about the pain. They are born for you. "Nature is amazing isn't it? " Those oranges are born at the exact same time that you start feeling the punishments of the temperature contrasts between Summer and Fall, said my grandpa. 

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But how many times do you really stop and appreciate them? 

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Maybe you'll feel their scent from a wind breeze coming from far away, maybe while you're waiting for the train to arrive, maybe if you're in the park, or maybe while in class, distracted and looking through the window in despair. 

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Even their colour might not be the real one. The reflection of the blue sky might confuse your eyes. Anyway, you are looking at them now. 

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Eventually one falls down.

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You bend to pick one up Maybe you shouldn't do it... It's called stealing. But is it really stealing if the planet is here for free and for all of us? How can we ever pay it back? Well, you live on a planet in the middle of a galaxy and you can eat all the oranges that you want. Sour and sweet: a good metaphor for life huh? 

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Fast! Grab one, nobody will notice. Maybe the police dogs can smell orange juice? Will i go to jail for stealing a piece of fruit? 

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I will save all the seeds and plant 13 more of these trees. 

Maybe like that I can pay back my planet.

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2017

Ines Araujo

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