Heroes Not Zombies

Maybe when you were a child you would blow on a seed head like this one. You’d blow it to see how many times you’d have to blow to send every single seed flying, a bit like you’d blow out the candles on your birthday cake.

Maybe you’d make a wish. You would use the seed head to strengthen your hopes.

Maybe you’d ask a question and the number of blows would be the answer – you’d use the seed head to predict the future.

Maybe you’d try to tell the time from the number of blows you needed (something that only worked by chance or if you knew the time in advance)

When I look at a seed head like this one I see abundance. Nature isn’t a machine. She doesn’t use the least possible resources to survive and thrive – she doesn’t follow that idea of “efficiency” stripping everything back to the bare bones, delivering “just in time”. We saw this kind of “efficiency” collapse during the pandemic because we didn’t have enough health carers, didn’t have enough PPE, had supply lines easily disrupted and depleted stores.

In Nature, and in our own human lives, we thrive better when we have abundance, when there is “redundancy” in the system.

Does the plant really need all these seeds? Yes it does if it is to survive and thrive.

I remind myself of that when I gaze at this beautiful seed head, replete with hope, with desire, and with potential.