Recently, I came across this awing picture. At the start, it looked like any other doodle, but after observing it long enough, an important theme began to develop. Interested, I did as any other spectator would do… I wrote about it. Below is a little writing about the drawing’s symbolism and its effects on society.
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A rose and a cactus grow next to each other. The rose knows the beauty within itself. It loves its feather-formed leaves and cherishes the sweet fragrance dancing around its clusters of petals. The cactus, however, does not recognize its own beauty. It finds its stem too thick and bare. It hates the fact that not a single leaf branches off of its core. It despises the sharp spikes surrounding its body that prick those nearby. It does have flowers, but the cactus is so focused on its spikes to notice the blooms. The rose, on the other hand, is full of love. It sees the adorable flowers growing on the head of the cactus. The cactus, not able to see the beauty within itself, fails to look up and notice the rose’s beautiful flower. It only sees the tall stem below the bulb full of dangerous thorns. Those who do not recognize the beauty within themselves cannot see the beauty in front of them.
This relates to the morality of people as well. A person that acknowledges their self-worth and feels confident within themselves is more likely to see the strengths in others as well. They have a more positive attitude and look at life. On the other hand, a person that refuses to see anything but their flaws probably will only see problems within others too. They are so caught up in being so pessimistic that they forget to pause for a moment and give the positive qualities within themselves a chance to shine through. It is as if there is this cloud of negativity obscuring the person’s vision. It hides away their beauty like clouds covering the sun. As the cloud becomes thicker and denser, full of all of the person’s negativity, the cloud is so full that it starts to precipitate. This rain may represent the final stage. The person has completely broken down and cannot change their views anymore. They have become the cactus; never being able to look up and notice the beautiful blossoms. They cannot notice the beauty that they, and others, hold any longer.
One may think that this is such a terrible thing and question why a person would ever choose to feel this. However, we do this to ourselves on a daily basis. Recently, I have noticed that when peering through past yearbooks, looking through photos in my albums, or even simply checking on the content I posted on my socials, I either quickly scroll past the pictures that contain me in them, or look at them with such disgust. I grimace and question what I was even thinking when taking the photo. Sometimes, I go as far as deleting the photo. This does not stop with just photos though. Why is it that when a person is called on to present their topic to the class, they start to panic? Why is it that when a teacher asks a question to the class, rarely does someone answer? Why do we do this? What made us do this?
The answer to these questions is exactly one letter; society. Society has made it so we wince at our pictures. Society has engraved it into us that when we present our topic, everyone else is quietly insulting every word we say. Society has printed into our minds that we must not raise our hand in class or others will judge us. Whether it is from movies, shows, friends, or even family, they have influenced us to think this way; and we have always followed them without a sound. This is because when we see someone do or say something, our mind takes notice of this. When it is our turn to do that thing, later on, our brain will remember these memories. Since what others did seems familiar and something we can lean onto with comfort, we do it as well.
How do we stop this? For this question, there is no real answer. As stated above, the clouds have shielded people from feeling or seeing self-love and beauty for so long that the rain of hate may have precipitated for some. We may never have the needed self-confidence in ourselves to keep our photos, share our ideas, or answer questions anymore. The flowerets that are seen by the rose may never be seen by the cactus. We people just might be the cactus.
Note: the original artist of the drawing is undetermined
