024 Bitter on Purpose
Hey Neem, your bitterness is how you guard your leaves. Many insects take one taste and stop eating.
Is a little bitterness sometimes protection?
Is your bitterness always a fault, or is it sometimes protection?
In a village courtyard, the old neem tree is green and full. Around it, other plants have holes in their leaves.
The neem's leaves are whole. What do the insects know?
What really happens
Neem leaves and seeds are full of bitter natural chemicals. The best known is called azadirachtin.
Many insects take one bite, taste the bitterness and stop eating. It also disrupts their growth. The neem's bitterness is how it protects itself.
How we know: Azadirachtin's effects on insects are well documented in scientific research (Mordue and Nisbet, 2000).
The turn
We are told to always be sweet, always agree, never say no.
But a little bitterness, a firm no, a clear boundary, is sometimes what keeps us whole.
Three takeaways
- Being kind is not the same as being easy to eat.
- Boundaries protect what you are growing.
- A clear no can save a lot of damage.
Some bitterness is not unkindness. It is protection.
I asked you not to bite, but I didn't forbid you to hiss.