The Meadow

Thursday’s Post:

We’ve had so much rain around here, especially during the month of June, that I have been unable to mow a meadow below my home.

Finally today it was dry enough and I got the chance to mow and what a surprise.

The meadow grasses and what I thought were weeds, which I normally cut to about four inches, had grown to over eighteen inches and lo and behold the field was filled with wild flowers.

There were daises, buttercups, lavender, Lilly’s of the Valley, Bluets, Forget-me-nots, and some bright blue flowers I can’t name; the meadow was speckled with brilliant color. Some flowers were tall, some were short, and there were broad leaves, thin leaves and all shapes and sizes in-between. I felt sadness as my mower powered over them. This was the first time in many years that they were allowed to grow to their fullness and flower.

As I circled the acreage cutting the field into a lawn again, I wondered how often that happens to people, especially young people who are cut off by the blade of parents opinion, teachers, group mores, social conditions and condemnations before their individuality can flower into full creative potential.

Authorities, both secular and religious, customs, both political and social often inhibit, if not restrict, the young from choosing a different path than what is or has been the norm.

How many great discoveries have we cut in the bud by saying we don’t do it that way, or we’ve never done it that way or that’s not the way it’s done. How many creative geniuses have we stifled because Dad or Mom went to that school and so should you or you’ll make more money doing this than that.

How many hearts have we broken or bent in saying, “you must, you should, you’d better, and you owe me."

Let the unending field of human color and its innate creativity blossom into greatness.

I believe as philosopher Joseph Campbell espoused, “Follow your bliss” and you will be happy and successful in the context of your happiness and the world will be a much better place for all of us.