Tulips

I became curious about how Tulips propagate. As you know, they grow from bulbs and will continue to do so each year. But how do they spread in the wild, I wondered? I’m not much of a gardener, but I did wonder.

Apparently the flowers produce seeds. And it turns out that the seeds, wherever they happen to land, will eventually become mature bulbs. But this can take up to seven years.

We humans are often impatient, and we find ways to speed up these processes. Seven years seemed too long, to somebody. And now we can get our tulips a mere year after planting a bulb. Forget about the seeds.

It’s a result of a kind. And I’m not for putting any ethical quality onto buying and planting a tulip bulb. I’m just as likely to do that as the next impatient human. And I regularly buy Ineke a bunch from the Co-op.

But in general, I’m slowly moving towards slowing down. When it isn’t about my immediate survival, I think I need to learn to wait a little bit more than I do. To develop patience. Which also takes time. But I think it can be a super-power. And I think lack of it is what has possibly turned us, too often, into a destructive force in the world.

And that is my impatient way of hacking a life lesson out of a song title.