My feet hurt today when I stand. I wonder if it might be from weightlifting this
morning -- I was doing squats of up to 90 lbs (thank you, thank you) plus some
related stuff like leg presses and calf raises (including a few of 135 lbs, which
is exciting because it's well over my weight), and I wonder whether this is a bit
more stress than my nearly archless feet are happy with. Oh well.
On
my way to buy lunch, I passed the message board with the annoying perky slogans.
Today it says, "Instead of complaining that roses have thorns, be thankful that
thorns have roses!" That got me thinking. For one thing, why not just appreciate
the whole plant, its wildness as well as its more conventional prettiness? Why
should everything be all sweetness and life and perfume? Life is better with a few
small untamed risks in it, a few reminders that everything isn't here just to
please us.
On further thought, I realized that in some ways, I
actually like the thorns better. Roses aren't my favorite flower, at least not the
traditional big plain red or pink or yellow or white ones. I like the more fragile
prettiness of antique roses. I like the more subtle colors, like the blush roses
with the palest near-white at the edge of the petals that shaded to a very
alive peach-pink heart that I carried at my wedding. I like seeing all the
different things a breeder can do with a basic genome. Really though, my favorite
thing about a rose blossom isn't the way it looks or smells but the impossible
softness of the petals.
But have you ever looked closely at a thorn?
Break one off and try it. (Don't use the whole stem with the thorn attached
because another thorn will get you right in the eye, and if you complain people
will laugh at you.) Rose thorns have a beautiful curve to them, and when you touch
the sides of them they have a slick smoothness that sweeps your finger along. Rose
blossoms are great obvious flaunting things, but thorns only show their beauty
when you pay close attention, when you aren't limited by the obvious, when you
look without preconceptions. Their beauty is a bigger reward than that of the
flowers, because it's a secret not everyone knows.