Improbable Plantings

Those tiny, seemingly-fragile plants! How can they possibly manage to grow … even beyond that … actually thrive, on the surface of such inhospitable and daunting boulders? How can that beauty and delicacy, that is theirs, present itself on a stage so forbidding? While I relish the innate reflex of sensory celebration of this miniscule presentation … I hear that quiet whisper of my Muse, “What you see there is a portrait of every healthy relationship. And even the elements of a healthy absence of relationship.” And I pay heed to more than the visual stimuli offered.

I see that the very inhospitable nature of those deposits from one of natures past upheavals, provides a barrier against any would-be intruders that would threaten the plants calling this place home. Had that tender plant been attempting life in some other environ, all manner of more dominant species would present a constant danger to survival. And, yes, I have known such relationships. Unions in which the severity of one mate protects the other from life’s predators.

And I am made aware of the irrigation equilibrium provided by the rock’s surface. Here, beneath the constancy of the waterfall’s flow, all of the moisture, that would saturate the soils of other settings, is kept in balance by the continual drainage of the stone surface. Likewise, the mate who does not become drenched in their partner’s life dramas, be they familial, career, or social, can, certainly offer such an outlet for potential emotional, mental, or even physical overload. Thereby mitigating the potential drowning that would threaten their over-absorbent partner.

And, I am reminded, there are merits to being in something of a solitary situation. A lone specimen, isolated from a bed of others of my ilk. For I do find that the absence, of the responsibilities of a relationship, serves to open windows of possibilities that give me opportunity for my own growth and individual examination and development. While I am absent the array of possibillities found in a bouquet ... I do realize the full sunlight and undiluted assets of every day.

Is this the “ideal” location for the propagation of such plants? Certainly not! Would these plants (if capable of making a rational, informed choice) elect this environment for their life-setting? I would seriously doubt it. Just as I see couples who are struggling with the “garden” in which they find themselves yearning to blossom. As surely as those precious little plants are seeking to make the most of a seemingly hostile patch of life … many are the relationships in which one or both partners are searching for some discernable element of their setting that will support healthy, vibrant growth. And those of us who are single, would often not elect this for our state. For, My Dear Reader, ’tis just as true for us human folk as for those improbable little plants … sometimes, we, for countless, myriad reasons … have, as our lot, the challenge to simply grow, blossom, and produce beauty where circumstance has planted us. And, it is my sincere hope that I can make available just a bit of the by-product of my musings to help nurture, encourage, and sustain your personal growth in, and enjoyment of, your individual surroundings.

For … as we can plainly see evidenced … extraordinary beauty and wonder is possible from the mating of even these most unlikely of contrariant elements. As Alexander Pope said “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.”

And all of this, these little illustrations of “Life Stuff”, is right here. Demonstrated in Theater that is beyond peer. I am now not only delighted with this photo’s sensorial delights … but pleased with a bit of a fresh insight. And all because I am willing to listen … to Life’s whisper.



IMAGE is yet another of Jon Sullivan's amazing works available from PDPhoto.org