The Guardian of the Lotus Pond

My head tipped with an awakening lunge, I found myself catching my heart in my mouth as I strenuously tried to stay awake. Its not that I was bored or uninterested in what I was hearing, it had more to do with the amount of wine I drank last night. But regardless I dragged myself off to collage and proceeded to go to my 3 planned lectures today. Now well into the second lecture I still didn’t comprehend how that what I would hear today, be it consciously or subconsciously, was going to impact on my life greatly.

I have been studying sociology now for 1 year. Things always turn out different to your expectations, and this was no exception. For example, I once took a drama class, thinking it would be a perfect place to let my extrovert personality show, however I never anticipated sitting in a classroom for hours and learning the different names of stages, and how the theatre developed historically. As I said it wasn’t what I expected, but there is always a lesson to learn from this.

Trying hard to focus I listened as my lecturer continued…. “I would like to now touch onto the subject of common misinterpretations that people have of each other. We will come back to this in more detail next week. An example I like to use to explain the phrase ‘common misinterpretations’ is this: if you see a young black male running down the street away from a guy that has been brutally attacked, are we to presume that he did it, or if we look closer is it in fact more obvious, that the boy was trying not to miss his bus, and the mans attacker had actually run in a different direction! Interesting!”

I could hear what my teacher was saying, but I was lost somewhere in a place of imagination, although still hugely focused on the point of the discussion. I always liked this topic as I find it has endless boundaries of discussion, as common misinterpretations stem from common interpretations, in other words, everyone who looks at the same item but through different eyes will see different things, and therefore it can be almost impossible to have a certain view point.

“I want you to go away today and spend some time thinking about common misinterpretations, and why it is that we all do this, Try to explore what about ourselves could be improved upon in order to avoid falling into the trap!”

My lectures passed quickly and I was proud that I managed to go to them all, as I ambled back to my halls I took a detour and went and sat by the huge pond in the university grounds. I found it very peaceful and relaxing here, a great place to think and digest what I had heard in my lectures. Despite the fact it was about fifteen times bigger it reminded me of my pond at home. I actually helped my dad dig our pond out, completely unconvinced that he could create a pond having just made a bloody great mess bang splat in the middle of a beautiful patch of grass, but I was wrong, he did a great job, and every time we had guests they would comment on how beautiful it is.

I was all of a sudden distracted by the presence of a beautiful heron that was standing at the waters edge. Just as I started to admire and observe the fascinating creature, the grounds gardener hurried towards it shooing it away.

“Why did you do that, it was a beautiful bird”

“I have just put in a new shoal of fish and different plants, herons are renowned for emptying a pond of its life if given the opportunity and this pond is still to young to fend off these birds! If you see it again, hurry it off will you”

I sat silently for a moment, quite sad yet deeply lost in thought. It was interesting that the gardener cared so much for the pond that he would do all that he could to protect it from anything that may spoil it. Despite the fact it was nature happening at natures best.

I looked more closely at the delicate lotus flowers growing in the water, still very sparse at the moment, and then it hit me. How we can compare oneself to a pond, growing and each day developing to help us survive. Given time the lotus flowers will create an even spread across the water therefore preventing access by birds to the pond life below. Developing over time to a point of self-preservation.

The true guardian of the lotus pond is in fact the lotus flower, the least obvious of all yet unmistakably powerful. A lotus flower will drop seeds into the depths of the pond and recreate itself creating huge mat across the waterbed to protect all inside. Ironically the fish sometimes eat the seeds, and nibble on the growing stalks, not realising how much protection these beautiful flowers bring. But despite set backs they spread and grow and serve a huge purpose.

What I suddenly came to realise, a fact that I have always failed to see, is that sometimes the true protector and preserver is in fact not what people see on the outside but it is the seeds within that grow and develop inside us. In this case for me, my seed is a thought, one of strength and possibility. The thought that helps me understand me and will protect me in the future.

I think we can all be compared to the lotus flower and I think we all have to consciously let our seeds grow and be able to flourish. This is the core of self-belief and worth and it will provide us with the strength to get through difficult times in our lives. Not only that but only with true self-development will we begin to address others with the same respect that we want, therefore reducing the risk of misinterpretations! Interesting!

Ironically today, during my lectures, I learned that I am the Guardian of my lotus pond and I alone can make it flourish! I can’t wait to discuss this at length in class next week.