“Mutation,” is the term the experts use to define it. “Improper cell division,” they say. To this I reply, “What a horrible way to describe things!”
Sitting on the window ledge just over the kitchen sink is one of the most unique and attractive plants I have ever seen. It’s not the most expensive plant and I doubt that it was ever intended to be the grand thing that it has become, but it is a flower that will stay in my mind for some time. Why? Because it has two heads flowering on the same stem. I had never heard of such a thing and promptly set out to research this little miracle.
After twenty minutes of internet consultation, I was thoroughly disgusted. Clearly the science nerds and I weren’t on the same page. One article even went so far as to refer readers to Fukushima — the place of the horrible nuclear accident. Surely this living beauty is more deserving than to be associated with a terrible toxic disaster!
Admittedly, an animal with two heads is a little freaky and I realize that the science is probably the same. But I don’t have a mutated animal sitting in my kitchen, I have a flower. And this flower didn’t grow this way because of some horrific radioactive event, it grew this way simply by chance.
I’m sure the science nerds are right and I credit them for their studies and the contributions they give. But as I stand in front of the sink looking at this double-headed daisy, I am not moved intellectually as much emotionally. For me, it’s like reading a poem and appreciating it for the way it moves me and not super-analyzing the structure.
I’m not sure how many times I will see a flower like this. But being able to witness it growing, even this one time, leaves me marveling at this incredible process we call life!
