When it comes to appreciating flowers there are a few perspectives. Some people wish they could last forever and don’t see the bother in buying them if they’re only going to die. Some wait only for very special occasions. And some people buy them just because, to enjoy the day.
What is most interesting though, is that flowers are more like people than we think.
They begin small, and grow differently based on their environment and the care they receive. Then, they bloom, differently, wildly, uniquely, sharing themselves with the world. When it is time, they pass and although it may have been brief, it was meaningful. Just by being here for that moment, something was changed.
(adaptation movie poster)
There’s a movie that stars Nicolas Cage called Adaptation. In the movie, he plays this cynical sort of self-absorbed writer who can’t get outside of himself to save his own life. Because of a book he’s trying (and failing) to write, he meets this Orchid Thief named John Laroche. John is the polar opposite, he follows his passions, he tries new things, and he falls in love with life.
During one scene, John shares a story about bees. How they’re such small creatures but they have such a huge impact globally. The whole world would be different without them. But they don’t know that. They have no idea how important they really are. They simply go about their day, collecting pollen, making honey.
(John Laroche, the Orchid Thief in adaptation)
Well, I think John is right and I think the same thing that applies to bees applies to pretty much everything else, including people and flowers.
All unique, all doing their thing, all existing without knowing just how much they matter to the whole.
So, the perspective that flowers are themselves a “waste” because they will only soon die, is certainly a perspective but its a perspective that doesn’t take into count why flowers are so cool and important, and how much they mean to so many people.
Flowers are used in moments when we can’t find the right words. For celebration, for sorrow, for just taking in the awe-struck feeling of being here, looking up at the sky, seeing a sunrise or sunset, seeing the beauty and variety of colour around us.
To appreciate flowers is to appreciate life. To appreciate flowers is to appreciate people.
Just a little thought on why they mean so much to so many.
