The Journey of Cocoa Bean
On the beautiful Ivory Coast, tiny pink petals huddled together on the trunk of a tall tree. Soon, the petals would grow into fruit pods filled with cream-colored beans. Farmers would carefully remove the ripe fruits from the tree and carry them to the edge of the rainforest to dry. The delicate beans inside would be shipped all over the world to make delicious chocolate!
Cocoa was one of these little beans. Each day, she ripened peacefully inside the warm pod with nothing at all to worry about. Cocoa was very happy that soon she would become chocolate—after all, everyone loves chocolate!
But far away, in busy cities everywhere, world leaders were prattling with excitement.
“My fellow countrymen,” announced all the leaders. “We have come up with a plan that will bring us all great joy! It has come to our attention that if each country processes cocoa beans for themselves, we will no longer need to rely on each other to make chocolate. This means that we will all have more chocolate for ourselves!”
“Hooray, more chocolate for us!” shouted all the people. “Let’s do it!”
Anxious to satisfy their growing appetite for chocolate, workers rushed to build new chocolate factories. Once they got started, more and more people joined them, rushing around in every direction.
The shipyard workers were worried. “If people take more chocolate than they need, there will be no chocolate left for us; instead of building ships, we should be building factories so we can get our share of the chocolate!” they shouted, as they ran to work at the factories.
When the sugar growers heard what was happening, they quickly drove their tractors to the factories to make sure they would get their share of chocolate, too!
Soon, all the people in the world worked from morning until night building more factories to make more chocolate. Giant machines thundered and rolled across the once quiet countryside, and smoke billowed out of towering factories. Sleepy-eyed cows spent all their time grazing in the grassy meadows because there was no one at home to milk them. The once busy shipyards were empty. With each passing day, the factories grew, and so did the little cocoa bean.
“What will become of all these beans without ships to carry them to factories?” asked the cocoa farmer sadly, turning and checking each little bean tenderly. “Everyone is so busy building more factories, they have forgotten about the beans.”
When Cocoa Bean heard what the farmer said, she became worried. Already she had developed a rich brown color, a sign that she was ripening. Soon, she would be dry and ready for shipping to the factories.
“If the shipyards stop building and repairing ships, how will we get to the factories?” she asked the other beans.
“Who will build more tractors for the sugar plantations?” she asked. “Everyone knows that you need tractors to plow sugar fields, and to pull the sleds filled with sweet sugar cane to the ships!”
“How will we make chocolate without sugar?” asked another bean.
“And who will milk the cows?” asked Cocoa Bean sadly. “The children love milk chocolate.”
“And chocolate ice cream!” chimed the other beans in unity.
Cocoa Bean was very sad. After all, she wanted to bring happiness to others. “How can I bring happiness to others by just lying here in the sun?” she wondered.
Meanwhile, the workers finished the factories.
“Good job, people!” announced the world leaders. “We are ready for business now!”
In a great commotion of cheering and noise, the workers opened the factories and turned on the new machines. All of a sudden, the cheering stopped. The workers realized that they had no beans, sugar, or milk to make the chocolate. Now all the workers began shouting at once.
“We have no beans! We have no sugar! We have no milk! How will we make chocolate?” they cried.
Quickly, they began to blame each other for the mess.
“Why have you not sent us your beans?” the factory workers asked the cocoa farmers angrily.
“The beans are already dried, and ready to pack for shipping. Where are the ships to carry them to the factory?” asked the cocoa farmers.
“And why have you not sent us your sugar?” the workers growled at the sugar growers.
“There is no sugar. We drove our tractors here to build the factories instead of plowing the fields,” replied the sugar growers sadly.
“And why have you not sent us your milk?” they asked the dairy farmers.
“We were so busy building the factories that we didn’t have any time for milking the cows,” replied the dairy farmers.
With no time to lose, the world leaders called a summit.
“Gentlemen,” said the leader, “This plan of ours is not working! We have got do something quick! There is no chocolate left in the world! I repeat: THERE IS NO MORE CHOCOLATE!”
“It seems that we must all agree to work together making chocolate,” suggested another leader. “Just as Nature gives us exactly what we need to make chocolate, each of us is different and exactly what the others need. If we work together in harmony and take only as much chocolate as we need for ourselves, we will all have enough chocolate.”
“Some of us are best at building ships, so we will go back to our shipyards and send ships to carry the beans,” offered the shipyard workers.
“We will take our tractors back to the sugar plantations to plow the fields,” said the sugar growers.
“Some of us have good land for dairy cows,” said another, “so we will go home and milk the cows.”
“Let’s get going!” they agreed. “We will all work together to make the most delicious chocolate the world has ever seen!”
The great news was sent all around the world. In no time at all, beans, sugar, and milk began arriving at the factories. Liquid chocolate was shipped in tanks and poured into molds for happy confectioners, dairies, and bakeries everywhere. Immediately, the people discovered that by working together in harmony, they not only had enough chocolate, but they also felt a wonderful new connection to one another.
Cocoa Bean was delighted that the people had discovered their mutual responsibility and connection to one another. In fact, she was so happy that when a little boy asked for one scoop of chocolate ice cream, she tickled his tongue until the little boy grinned so widely that his smile barely fit on his face. The little boy’s smile filled his mother with pleasure and she smiled, too!
At last, the people of the world learned how to be happy by working together in harmony, just like Mother Nature.
