The Sound of Flowers
Posted by anonymouse on:
The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers. ~Basho
After what happened on September 11, 2001, I was sad for a long time. I felt as though, we lost our collective 'innocence', the mistaken belief that terrible things don't happen here. The belief that we are exempt from some of the more tragic things that happen out somewhere else, in the rest of the 'world'.
We know that terrible things happen every day, but September 11, was a spectacular event that was impossible to ignore, or explain away, even though there are those who have tried to do that in the last ten years. I was reacquainted with the idea that actions have real-world consequences. Actions in the world arena, have natural consequences, even though it is impossible to trace the exact line of causation.
I remember feeling sad and hopeless for a very long time. I had an old orchid plant on the sink in my bathroom, and I was too depressed to even throw it away. Some months later, I came into my bathroom, and there on an otherwise naked and barren stalk, was one perfect white orchid flower. I must have needed a sign of hope, a symbolic reason to resume hoping for the best, even while expecting the worst. The single exquisite white bloom on that woody stalk provided me with a reason to begin to be cautiously hopeful again.
Collectively, we have had ten years of days to reflect on September 11, 2001. One day, for those who lost loved ones, is not any more meaningful than any other. But with the special dedications that will made on September 11, 2011, I hope that their hearts may be comforted like mine was when I saw a white flower on what seemed to be a dead plant.
Thanks to a public domain for the orchid photo...
1 Comment
Comment by Ws1 on
lovely. Thanks for this.