Dahlia or Dandelion?

Have you ever seen a flower growing through a crack in the pavement? It makes my day every time.

The thing is, you'll never see this occurring with the more delicate flowers. No roses or orchids or dahlias here. The flowers that make it through the concrete are the dandelions, the wild pansies, the daisies. They're the weeds. The ones that annoy me when I see them growing on the front lawn.

How could something be so beautiful in one situation, but held in such low regard in another? The only solution that I can think of is that it's not the beauty of the flower itself that I'm reacting to, but the beauty of the situation. Every tiny blossom that a plant growing through the sidewalk produces is a reminder that adversity can be overcome.

At any time, there are pairs of feet cruising by, any one of them might crush its delicate petals. A child could easily pluck it out of the ground, inadvertently destroying the subject of his or her admiration. Herbicides are sprayed with the express purpose of killing the tiny plant.

Add to that the fact that it's growing through a slab of rock. There are no nutrients there to support it. At least not at the surface.

But what the rose would see as a death sentence, the wild pansy sees as a challenge. Its roots shoot far, far down into the soil, as its stem makes the long, difficult journey to the light. Down beneath the pavement, the dandelion finds virgin soil, free from other plants that might compete with it, and gets all the nutrients it needs to flourish in its difficult environment. Even if it gets plucked, the roots of the plant are so deep that it can regenerate and start over. It adapts.

As do we. Everyone faces adversity. What separates the dandelions from the dahlias is whether we see it as a minor setback or an insurmountable obstacle. The only question is which will you be?