Something Fantastic and Trivial

Did you know, that if you took those old root ends of green onions, put them in a cup of water, they would grow again?  They do.  The tallest one has been in there about a week and a half.

Here is why I think that is amazing.

We chopped it up, used the green onion to season rice, and plopped the root ends into water.  This plant took air, sunlight, and water and has transformed those three things back into an onion!  Anyone who farms or gardens is probably rolling their eyes at this point, wondering what the big deal is.  Here's the big deal: this thing is sitting there, calmly and fantastically recreating itself.  It knows it's an onion, and it knows that given the simple conditions of water, air, and sun, it can clone itself just so your rice can be seasoned again.

This thing sits in dirt, and it has done something that I couldn't imagine doing in all of history.  Imagine amputees sticking their severed limbs in a bucket of water, sitting in the sun, calmly growing their limbs back? 

I almost think that this is a more pure form of "renewable energy" that everyone clamors about.  Maybe if we payed more attention to the renewable energy source that has been sustaining us all these years, rather than finding a renewable energy source that can sustain our rapidly growing technological obsessions, we would find what we're looking for.  

Quixotic

One of my favorite words lately is the word "Quixotic" - a word which took on it's meaning from the fictional character Don Quixote, who attacked windmills thinking them to be giants (or were they actually giants, pretending to be windmills?).  The word has come to mean overly idealistic, unrealistic, and impractical, but I love it.

Comedian George Carlin said "Scratch any cynic and you will find a disappointed idealist."  I think that we all started out as idealist in the beginning - we wanted to believe and to trust, to go on a quest for something worth fighting for.  But over time, we grew up.  We found out that there are a great number of things which are not ideal, and to be ideal is to be foolish - childish.  This may be why so many people admire an idealist, but so few people want to be one.  We are inspired by movies like Braveheart, Lord of the Rings, or 300, because characters like that firmly believe that one person can change the world.  We admire their faith, but have seen too much of the world to believe that it's possible.

Maybe growing up is bad for us.  C. S. Lewis, author and theologian, said "When I became a man I put away childish things - including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."

Don Quixote may have been insane - but I will take one ounce of that kind of insanity over all the saneness I've ever seen in this world.  Can one person change the world?  As long as your answer is "no" I guarantee you'll be right.  I challenge you to be just a bit more quixotic - have a bit more faith that your actions can have a real impact on the world around you.  Throw your hope in the face of reason and see what happens.  If you fail, you might look foolish - but if you succeed, you might change the world.  I'd take that bet.

"To dream the impossible dream.
To fight the unbeatable foe.
To bear with unbearable sorrow.
To run where the brave dare not go.
To right the unrightable wrong.
To love pure and chaste from afar.
To try when your arms are too weary.
To reach the unreachable star.

This is my quest, to follow that star.
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far. 
To fight for the right, without question or pause.
To be willing to march into Hell, for a Heavenly cause.

And I know if I'll only be true, to this glorious quest, 
That my heart will lie will lie peaceful and calm, 
when I'm laid to my rest.
And the world will be better for this: 
That one man, scorned and covered with scars, 
Still strove, with his last ounce of courage, 
To reach the unreachable star."

"Impossible Dream" - The Man of La Mancha