In China, sunflowers are associated with long life and good fortune. A Chinese villager recalled a man being forced to bury his own son alive, as punishment for the boy stealing grain. And that was not an isolated incident. Starvation, torture, rape and execution were the norm in China under Mao Tse Tung’s reign. So where were the sunflowers? Probably in a field, just staring at the sun. The point is, you can’t go putting your hope in flora.
Take roses for another example. You can’t just give a woman a bouquet and expect romance in return. Other factors come into play, such as your appearance, personal hygiene, age, income, personality, criminal record, taste in music, religion, language, travel schedule and horrendous character flaws. And if she is married to someone else, then a whole rose garden is not going to help you. You should know better than that.
Let flowers be flowers I say. Would you expect a three-year-old to perform successful open-heart surgery? Or a boiled egg to play Bach’s Cello Suites? Of course not. So why give a flower the job of granting you success, pretty though the flower may be? You want good fortune? Learn all you can, make wise choices and work hard—that will increase your chances. Want long life? Eat right, exercise and don’t smoke—that’s all you can do. Are we so desperate for an extended lease on this life that we turn to sunflowers for help? Didn’t the Son of God remedy our whole mortality problem when he rose from the dead?
Let us each take responsibility for what we can, while accepting that sometimes sh** happens. As for the flowers, let them bloom in their fields and gardens, put them in a vase on your table, eat their seeds, dry them in a scrapbook, put one in your tuxedo lapel, look at them up close, stop and smell them. Paint a picture of them if you want to.
20″ x 16″ Acrylic on canvas.
© 2021 MILES VENISON ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
In Search of Lost Marbles 