Weeds or Wishes

 

I have been contemplating the green spaces where I frequently walk with my four-legged companions. There are fields of dandelions and the bright yellow looks quite beautiful. As I walk by and through these fields, I have been considering what I see, other than the obvious sea of yellow gold flowers. As children, and still now, I appreciate when the flower goes to seed, and it looks like a fluffy ball. Picked and then a good deep breath before blowing it to scatter the seeds -- making a wish.

Then there is a person that I encountered several years ago who would harvest dandelions. she explained that you needed to pick them while they were still "young and tender", adding leaves to salads, making tea from another part, wine from something else. Every part was good to consume but pick them early before they become "strong and bitter."  I admit I was a poor recipient of her wisdom!

This all took my mind to another place. A philosophy professor assigned me the task of writing a paper on "What is Truth?" I have no idea what I wrote all those years ago. But when I think about it now, I realize that each of us have our own truth. We can talk about the same experience, but we will all have our own take on it, our own truth.

And that brings me full circle to the humble dandelion. Is it a weed or is it a wish? Each of us will have our own opinion. And even if we see it as a weed, we can not deny the strength and the resiliency of the dandelion, nor can we deny the beauty when we see a field of yellow gold. And when it goes to seed tell me that you are not tempted to pick it, blow on the seeds, and make a wish.