Growing Up

Growing Up

People are like flowers. We start out as seeds, and inside we form into something living; inside we become a miracle. There we sit for awhile, awaiting the opportunity to declare our existence to the world. When we finally sprout, there are a few directions we can travel. We can declare ourselves thistles and strangle others’ attempts to flourish; we can crawl back underground never to become anything.  Or, with forgiveness like rain, optimism like sun, and love like a tender gardener, we can grow into something beautiful.

Rain is often thought of as a malevolent force that suffocates our ability to breathe freely or frolic through our childhood; really it is a beautiful goddess that should be bowed to and praised. As humans we make mistakes which shape our character and are an essential part of life, but let’s face it: we worry. In a society like ours today, there is the constant cloud hovering over our head. “What will he think of me?” “Does this make me a bad person?”There’s always something or someone to live up to, and especially when we’re teenagers everything seems life-threatening. One mistake, one misspoken word, one misinterpreted look, could risk everything we strive for.  Forgiveness cleanses our mind of these worries, guilt, and taunting questions; it anoints our sins. With every rain shower we are reborn, and we can choose to cultivate this opportunity or watch it waste away. But when it rains we need not worry what we did in the past, for we are new people with rights like everyone else. Without rain, our thoughts would harden and become encrusted on our bodies to remain forever a part of us; forever a weight drawing us into the ground where no light shines through.

Headlines have become as predictable as thunder following lightening. “INSANE WOMAN MURDERS HER HUSBAND”, “LOCAL TEEN KILLED BY DRUNK DRIVER”, “MISSING CHILD”. These are enough to keep anyone locked inside, because they’re real tragedies that happen to real people; it’s not like a horror movie where everything is farcically surreal. When we read articles like this, we get the idea that we live in a dark alley; but what about the light in the world? Optimism gives us warmth, security, positivity. How can one not smile when he sees a rainbow, or feel the sun’s warm hands caress his cheeks? The sun shines a spotlight on the little things that so often go unrecognized, like a young girl selling lemonade to raise money for cancer, or a 7^th grade class volunteering at a local soup kitchen. These are the headlines we want to see, because they remind us that even in the most dilapidated garden there still strives a beautiful flower. Without the sun, we would spend the days huddled under blankets, believing that every book with any sense of joy was a fairytale. Consequently, we would never explore, never try, and never learn. And so we would remain a naïve seed in an adult plant, an adult that doesn’t even know tender care.

The bond between a gardener and his plant can never be explained, but the foundation is always tender care. Tender care is something we often take for granted; something, like air, we can never think of living without. Yet there do exist those who feel abandoned, and they are left to scramble in the weeds for that one kiss we turn down in public. But they can never retrieve it because that kiss isn’t theirs, and so they become desperate. They climb over the fortunate ones in hope they won’t feel alone if there are two broken hearts. These are the bullies; the ones that are insecure, afraid, and think that by putting others down it may make them feel better, though it would never seem it because they’re usually the roses and sunflowers. The teenage pregnancies we hear about on TV are the most desperate attempts to create love, but tender care isn’t a tonic. It provides us with security, encouragement, and faith. True, we need to learn to fend for ourselves, but when we’re just starting off we need something to lean on. Sometimes we get lost and need a support to guide us in the right direction. The strongest flowers are the ones that were soothed to sleep every night by a lullaby as they struggled to sprout, or gently caressed when they started to sag.  True love is unconditional and doesn’t come with a contract. There’s no, “If you break this rule then I won’t love you anymore.” As my mom always says, “If you murdered someone I would help you bury the body, because I know there would be a reason.” Without tender care, we would feel like seeds blowing in the wind: no sense of direction, no sense of purpose. Tender care is our foundation, the soil from which we start from; and if we’re lucky, our roots always remain.

People are like flowers. We start off as seeds with potential because we have so much hope for our new life. However, the loads, darkness, and insecurities are tiny insects that bite holes in our leaves, and sometimes they devour us entirely until we veer off in a wrong direction. But with a little rain, sun, and tender care, we can grow into something beautiful. And if we dance in that rain, bathe in that sun, and rejoice in that care, we just might create a miracle.