Friday, April 1, 2011

Consider the Dandelion

Most people consider the dandelion a weed. They rip it out of their yard and throw it in the garbage. Why do so many people destroy these flowers when they will pay big bucks to buy flowers from a garden center? Because everyone says that the dandelion is a nasty, worthless flower. If you don't destroy it as soon as you see it. It will spread, and then there will be more nasty, worthless flowers you have to work to get rid of.

But it's a flower. A rather pretty little flower, if you stop and look at it. With lots of bright little yellow petals going every which way.


And when it goes to seed, it is even more beautiful. It forms this ethereal sphere of lace filaments that glow with inner beauty when seen in the right light. But it is a delicate beauty. It lasts only a brief while before the harsh elements destroy it. But even it's extreme fragility is part of its glorious design.


The dandelion's death is one of the most beautiful examples of the life cycle that I have ever seen. Who hasn't held a dandelion puff before their mouth and blown upon it in order to watch it's tiny seeds be lifted up and away upon one's breath. Spreading new life with the evanescent beauty of its death. Even without human intervention, the world's breath becomes the breath of life for the dandelion, carrying the potential within its seeds to form new life wherever the wind blows.

But this beautiful flower is destroyed over and over again, simply because someone, somewhere, sometime decided that since it didn't do exactly what they wanted it to, then it must be destroyed. Because the dandelion doesn't behave like “normal” flowers, it must be destroyed. Because it doesn't allow itself to be confined within the strict borders of a planned garden, it must be destroyed. Because it goes its own way and doesn't “follow the rules”, it must be destroyed. The dandelion is a rebel flower and rebellion cannot be tolerated, it must be destroyed.

Why?

Why must beauty be destroyed simply because it wasn't planned for?

Why must beauty be destroyed because it turns up someplace unexpected?

Why must anything that doesn't “follow the rules” be thoughtlessly destroyed?

Next time you encounter a dandelion, stop and think about what it means to be a dandelion in this world.
 
This post is dedicated to Mark Kanemura, Lady GaGa and all the other monsters out there. 

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