What about flowers?
A comment that wanted to be an article of its own
I took a break from writing and went out to do some work in the garden. I almost felt guilty because I need to make money, I need to earn enough to at least pay taxes, the government doesn’t give me any leeway because I’m super-frugal, independent, healthy...
I noticed Chor Pharn’s new essay and listened to it while considering my next task. I’ll multitask, I thought to myself, so I don’t have a reason to feel guilty... (BTW: To follow what I write below, it’s best to read Chor’s piece first.)
I noticed young iris sprouts peeking through thick, high grass (which I hastily thought were “gladioli” in my comment!). I haven’t weeded their bed in a year! I thought about other plants and all the work that seemed more urgent. I must first take care of the food, don’t I? That’s the priority, isn’t it?
Still, I couldn’t help myself. I squatted down and pulled the matted grass with my bare hands until the irises were free.
As I listened to Chor’s essay and heard him mention “clothing, food, housing, mobility”, I thought to myself, “What about flowers?”
Their fragile, fragrant magnificence commands humility and humanity. They will intrude into my rush when they start to blossom, commanding attention. They will ask: “Where is your love right now? Why do you care? If we’re not enough for you, what is?”
Irises agreed with Chor, yes ...
a society that makes usefulness the condition of continuance will become sadistic
caregiving must remain possible
people need their time back, they need their seasons just as flowers do
The ordinary people Chor writes about suddenly were these “useless” flowers. All that these people needed to be was gentle, kind, and beautiful, nothing more, nothing less.
I settled with my own character, with my ethics, my integrity.
I took in what the irises just told me in their commentary to Chor’s essay, I gazed to the right: “Ah, the lilies!” (Yes, that’s where lilies are indeed!)
I smiled at the thick grass covering the garden bed and remembered the Chinese proverb that stuck with me many years ago: “When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.”