The Ephemeral Nature of Flowers II

One interesting entry into the topic of the ephemeral nature of flowers is to consider an analogous condition in human beings. What might that be? People can be expressive by making changes to their hair, clothing and jewelry in a way that I think is very similar to a plant producing a blossom. Being a male in the industrialized modern world, and therefore not being enrolled in a regimen of making conspicuous alterations to my appearance, I stood largely on the outside of this aspect of human behavior until one day when I did something that changed all that. I happened to acquire a pen drive that had attached to it a lanyard that was long enough to allow me to hang the device around my neck. It was not more than a few centimeters long, slender and light weight, so I hardly knew it was there. It was also, however, coated in a shiny material, something like plastic chrome, so that when I walked down the street, I often got several glances from people walking in the opposite direction to me.

This was in Pisa, Italy, where foot traffic was heavy. Suddenly, I understood why young women wore showy clothing and especially why on some occasions they teased their hair out to be big and eye-catching. Adorning yourself in this way causes others to take notice. It enkindles respect, in the sense of re (as in 'back at you') spect (to see), which put together render the meaning of having someone acknowledge you by demonstrating their gaze, by making it plain that they see you. In other words, to be looked at in that way reaffirms your self, underscoring the notion that you actually exist. I believe there is actually a male human version of this called 'peacocking', which is either identical or very similar to the female version and it is not surprising that the practice of adorning yourself in a way that makes you highly visible is a key strategy to attracting a sexual partner.

This is precisely the reason for the flower, of course, as it attracts birds, bees and other creatures to it so that they eventually become coated in and then distribute the pollen from flower to flower which is essential to a plant's sexual reproduction. As Michel Serres has noted, ugliness and infertility often go hand-in-hand in nature, which explains why creatures of all kinds become less sexually attractive the older they get, losing their looks as they also lose their ability to produce plentiful and healthy offspring. The lovely scent of the flower undoubtedly plays a part in this process also.

Now, I had slung that pen drive around my neck without any intention of drawing attention to myself, for any aim or motive, but I must say that having many people glance your way, for whatever reason (and let this be a warning to both the glancer and the glancee), does stimulate one's sense of self and therefore the level of respect that one feels, at least respect as I construe it in that basic sense. I am not sure to what extent these psychological aspects are present in flowers, analogically or otherwise, but the instrumentality of showy beauty is clearly evident in beings running across the ontological spectrum.