What is it about seeing plant growing through concrete that we think it is extraordinary?  It is just a plant growing through a spot in a supposed impenetrable man-made substance.  We see it everyday, there is nothing spectacular about it…it is nature doing what nature does.  So why today did it seem like something meaningful and poignant?  Why did I feel the need to post this iPhone picture that does not do justice to what I observed?

Lately I have been feeling a bit less than ordinary, tired, old, defeated; like a forgotten plant that is doing its best to grow despite feeling blocked in, grabbing what sunlight it can before the shadows come over it again.  In the midst of a decision…do I do what is expected of me or what I know I am capable of?  That plant is expected to just grow straight up towards the sun through that hole in the concrete, yet it is, over time, entirely capable of busting up the whole rigid square as its roots spread underground then begin to push up.  But it is just one plant among billions, why should it exert itself ?

What would the planet look like if every plant decided to just to give up, not adapt, not advance, not try?  Would we have forests?  Would we have old abandoned human structures slowly being absorbed back into the earth?  Would we have lava being broken down into rich soil?   Why do we separate ourselves as humans from nature when we are the epitome of it’s power?  Why do we feel limits when nature’s capabilities are seemingly infinite?

Guess I have a decision to make…

(Extra)ordinary