Thursday, March 28, 2013

Someone Has To Bloom


 
I was leaving a restaurant after lunch, by myself of course, and noticed a flower that had sprouted in the cement jungle, along the edge of a curb. My initial thought was that flower is like me; flourishing alone in a harsh and lonely environment.

The world is most certainly harsh. Everyone wants something from you, and most often what they want is for you to go away and leave them alone. Not that they want to be alone. On the contrary, most people can’t accept being alone; they are just picky about with whom they are not alone. I am the exact same way. Am I not people? The trick is to find people with whom you can get along, and them with you; and how much you are willing to settle in order to not be alone. That is a difference between people: how much they will tolerate so as to not be alone. I am not much for settling.

That was one thought, anyway.

Another thought: you look at that flower squeezing a life outta that cement and think about how hard it must be. Life is hard, right? What a struggle it must have been for that flower. It is inspirational to see that flower flourishing. A testament to dedication and perseverance. Why, if that flower can make it against all odds then why can’t I achieve great things?!

Right. Next thought.

That flower didn’t do a goddamn thing. Or precisely, that flower is not doing anything more than any other flower. It is simply being itself. In fact, growing where it is growing is just as easy as growing anywhere else.

We humans like to confuse odds with effort. When someone beats the odds then we say it was due to effort, when it was really just luck. Something had to grow there. This flower grew there. This flower has achieved something great for being itself; for being the benefit of circumstance. If not this flower then it would have been another flower, and looked the same to us, regardless of its actual struggle, or lack thereof.

Celebrities. Famous people. So called high achievers. They are just like this flower. They are nothing special. They were being themselves when circumstances elevated them. If not them, then someone else. It is not them but everyone else who makes them what they are.

 
 
 
 
 

 

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