Is anyone familiar with a pansy? I know some of you are. Of course, it depends on whether you're talking about the pretty, sweet smelling flower or the weak nerdy guy nobody likes. Well, I'm not sure how one relates to the other, but I now know that the real pansy (the pretty flower) is no "pansy" (the weakling that gets pushed around).
I currently live in the North Dallas area. I happen to love flowers, and I have a small but quite unique flower garden in my modest backyard. I suppose many of you think of Dallas as a hot, desert area like how the western movies portray most of Texas. In truth, Dallas is quite Midwestern, including its climate. As we transitioned from fall to winter, I knew the flowers I had were not likely to survive, but I was told that pansies could survive a Dallas winter. So I uprooted most of my flowers and replaced them with a wide variety of pansies. If I say so myself, it was quite beautiful.
Well, those of you who are football fans may recall that just before the Super Bowl, Dallas was hit with a severe ice storm and an extended cold period. This was more than the normal Dallas freeze; it was borderline unprecedented. So my wonderful pansies were crushed under snow and ice for nearly two weeks. That's pretty extreme for even a hearty flower. When the ice finally melted I was left with a decimated flower garden. Part of me wanted to dig out all the flowers and replace them, but it was still February. This could happen again. I just left things as they were. Over the next couple of weeks the weather improved, but not my garden. Oh well, life isn't always pretty.
Now just for a moment let's take a side trip away from my garden into my personal life. I'm not going to share details and I'm sure you're all thankful for that, but suffice it to say, I was going through a bit of a struggle with a number of things, including both job and...well...other things. Not a big deal; we all have these experiences.
So how do these two things relate? Well, maybe they don't, but an interesting thing happened just this evening. I had been out of town for a couple of days and just returned, tired and a bit frustrated. I went out to my patio to have a cigar (I know, a filthy habit. I'll quit someday, though probably not until after I'm dead.). As I was sitting there, I noticed my flowers had changed. By "changed" I mean they didn't look dead. It was dark so it was hard to tell, but there was a difference. I got up to take a closer look and I was astonished to see that some of them were blooming again! And more than just one or two, there were several. I gazed at the whole area, and I realized my flower garden was coming back to life! My pansies had weathered the storm; the frail, sweet smelling little flowers were stronger than the harsh cold and ice that had crushed them for two weeks. They took what nature had to give and they survived! Life was emerging from what I thought was a disaster.
I sat down, and in my contemplative way thought about this. One could say this was a fluke. One could say it was a lucky break. A religious person might say it was a sign from God. One could say it was just a normal act of nature. One could say anything, but what struck me at that moment was that I sure as hell am stronger than a frail little flower, and if these pansies could weather this storm, there is no storm that I cannot weather.
Did I read too much into this? Who can say, but let's face it, that's not the point. The point is that there is strength in everything, in everybody, that we don't always recognize until we need it. But it's there, and it's there for a reason. I would like to say that with this realization all of my problems dissolved, but that would be fantasy. However, I did spend the next half hour enjoying the moment and knowing with confidence that I will come out on top of whatever I encounter.
Whoever called them pansies in the first place?
