Many years ago in Egypt, I heard about a grain found in Tuten Ashmun's tomb. Legend has it that somebody planted it and a flower, believed to have been extinct for a thousand years was brought back to existence for three days. Or take Easter Island. I saw local ecologists searching for seeds enclosed in lava rocks. After sifting volcanic ashes for years, 17 differed native plants were re-introduced to the island. Plants, flowers in particular, look very fragile, but they are actually pretty tough creatures. So I was told. 24 hours ago I saw it with my own eyes.
Death Valley. A name as misleading as Greenland or as military intelligence. The place was mind-bogglingly full of life. Sure, some wildflowers bloom in Death Valley every year in spring, following the mud floods in the winter. But what happened this year happened the last time more than 50 years ago. It was raining in the desert like never before. Badwater, usually a tiny water hole, turned into a 10-acre lake and the whole desert was covered with wild flowers! Some of these seeds must have waited for many years to bloom. I almost said, they must have waited a lifetime. But what is a lifetime for a seed? For the freesias in my rain soaked front yard it is less than a year, for the grain in the pharaoh's tomb it was 3,500 years. And in both cases the waiting period was rewarded with a short lived moment of incredible beauty, only to produce new seeds and start the whole circle all over again, patiently waiting for the right time to blossom, either next year or three and a half milleniums later. In Death Valley, a lifetime was 50 years. Longer than most of us would be willing to wait for a miracle. How often have I given up just five minutes before the rainfall? Five minutes before the miracle?
Then again, how often did I wait for the miracle. Mostly because I had no other choice but to sit, hope and wait, because I was stuck in sand and mud - just like the seeds in the desert. Eventually, it rained every time. I grew new roots, spread my leafs, reached out for the sun and said, "Yes, it was worth the wait" - only to be stuck in the mud again soon after for what seemed like another lifetime. But so far, the rain always returned and every time it was definitely worth the wait.
I have learned a lot of good lessons from nature; I listen to my cat, I have listened to redwood trees, dolphins, birds and coral reefs. So far, I never listened to flowers; they seemed just too short lived and insignificant. That has changed. In the last 24 hours, I have seen a lake in the middle of America's driest place, a cactus blooming in the snow and a desert covered with wildflowers. Yes, I too believe in miracles!
Click here to see a couple of pictures of that day.
Other Stories:
The road was a straight line all the way to the horizon. Nothing was coming my way, I was on "auto-pilot" and played a CD of my favorite German punk band while driving through the desert. And there it was: one of my favorite songs. "I still believe in miracles". My mind wondered back 24 hours. Recalling all the things I had just seen made a believer out of me too.
Volker Moerbitz, 2005
It was the End of the World, as they knew it (2004)
Full Body Contact (2004)
Homecomings (2005)
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