True Lemon

I was in the grocery store today and noticed a box product in the juice aisle. It's called True Lemon, and while I didn't bother to inspect it very closely, I surmize it was a powder substance to replace the taste of real lemon. It prompted a mini-awakening.

True lemon? Give me a break! There's nothing true about it. It doesn't even resemble the shape of a lemon, which at least their competitor's conscentrated lemon juice does. "True Lemon" is a powder...a white, ashy, dried up dust. It may taste like lemon, but it is still not a lemon. Calling it "true" doesn't make it so. And what's more, the real lemon is just two aisles away...fresh, alive, and beautiful. This boxed stuff cost over $3! I could buy a whole bag of lemons for $2.56.

I hope you realize this isn't about True Lemon. It's about how often we slap a label on something phony and cheap, call it "Pure Goodness", and buy it! We could have the real thing if we just walked a little further, if we just dared to pick up the real thing, rather than be hypnotized by a lie on a box. There is nothing true about "True Lemon". And why that pisses me off so much, I can't quite understand. Except that I'm just really tired of being surrounded by lies.

I want the real thing. Although, to be fair, this is another meaning to the word "lemon." So, like the car that won't run, maybe "True Lemon" isn't so poorly named afterall.

Demand the real thing, people. Or years from now, our children will believe a lemon is shaped like a box.