I ran across a contest at Crazy Hip Blog Mamas and it turns out that I have something to say in regards to the topic….flowers. So I decided to enter with the following article. No doubt it may be too political but fun to write nonetheless.
If a Flower is a Promise for the Future – What Future Do We Want?
When I think of flowers I think of beauty, happiness, and good times. Some of the most exciting times of the year are those seasonal moments when a new flower blooms and we get to bask in its glory for a short time. It is no wonder that we like to send flowers to our loved ones and special friends hoping that they too might bask in that glorious feeling and promise the feelings and promises that only flowers bring. All the special moments in our lives weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, graduations may well have been touched by and commemorated by flowers. Even the sad times in our lives, when a loved one passes away, bring flowers to us with a promise for the future. On all these occasions flowers say what words struggle to do. That is the power behind each beautiful petal.
In the sonnet Flowers, Love’s Truest Language, Park Benjamin states Flowers are Love’s truest language; they betray, Like the divining rods of Magi old, Where precious wealth lies buried, not of gold, But love–strong love, that never can decay!
The flower represents so many things love, joy, promise, grief, and remorse a tall order for any object but a flower fulfills its destiny beautifully and with grace. I am sure that everyone would seek to preserve the very essence of flowers but sadly their essence is losing some of its luster and the meaning. Would a flower grown under conditions that do not preserve their very nature and essence be regarded as highly?
What I do not like to think about of in regards to flowers is chemicals, toxic work conditions, and global warming but these are things that should come to mind when we think of flowers. The fact is most flowers are imported from other countries where they are doused in toxic chemicals to preserve them, cared for by workers who are shrouded in toxic fumes all day, and they are transported thousands of miles emitting many tons of greenhouses gases into the air. How can flowers hold promise when their method of growth and delivery is in direct contradiction?
The next Fields of the World arrangement should come direct from the United States and from rich, organic soil. We can curb a flowers contribution to global warming by selecting flowers that grow locally and by growing them organically they are safe and they retain their essence as Mother Nature intended. It does not matter if the arrangement is comprised of roses, lilies, baby’s breath, or carnations they all have a lovely story to tell and as long as they are locally grown and organic in nature then they will have a special place in all my life events that require the beauty and promise of a flower.
