The Flower That Nobody Picked

Have you ever been to a garden full of flowers? What do you see there? Red, blue, violet and all sparkling colors. Each flowers conveys a special message and has a kind of charm. Each and every days, gardeners will pick some to be sold, given away or arranged but there will always be one flower picked, left untouched. That flower is me. 

I’m the daughter of a florist owner, we sell flowers from a huge garden owned by our neighbor. This boring Saturday morning too, I am accompanying my dad to stock up flowers. I look left and right ,different colors ,lush plants. The gardener picked some roses for us, the pretty ones but there’s one left untouched. While the ones sold to us are bright red and enchanting, the one left is a bit red with pinkish spots. I guess it is out of standards.

It is funny how we have standards for every little things, even pearl necklace needs tiny round pearls and not oval ones but…  Don’t you see some personal charm in the cute shapeless pearls? Now, the reason why butterflies are attracted to colorful flowers is because they are eye-catching compared to others and they may have better quality of nectar. I feel it is unfair. Flowers do not choose to bloom differently, they bloom without even realizing their own qualities.

“Sir, why is that one left?” “Ah…”,the gardener shrugs, ”We can’t exactly sell that one, the colour is a bit off”. Standards and standards… If all flowers were pink-red, those enchanting red ones would be the strange ones. I’m never the popular or sweet girls everyone adores ,I’m just a quiet person and most people misunderstand me as arrogant. But hey, this is me…

I’m never the best, all men approach me because they like my best friends, friends come and go-nobody really knows myself including me. “Mister!”,a little boy cheerfully exclaims,”Can I buy one flower for my mom’s birthday?”. The gardener laughs, I know he loves kids.”Sure,I will give you discount-which do you want?” “That red-pink one”

….

What?

The gardener is surprised too,”….W-why that one though? Those red big ones are way more beautiful”. The boy laughs, ”My mom once told me that nothing is perfect but everything’s beautiful in a way. She’s been complaining about how fat she is lately so I’m going to give her this to remind her. And actually I find this one beautiful!”. The gardener blinks, then smiles. “Take it boy, for free. A good boy like you deserves it”. The little boy leaves with a smile.

I smile, funny how universe tries to teach you life lessons. That boy was right-everything’s beautiful in a sense. Abstract paintings may seem like hideous colorful doodles to most people, but artists and art enthusiasts know their true value and are willing to buy with high price. Let’s consider this for awhile : I’ve seen famous photographers’ works-they don’t always capture beautiful moments and places like Maldives beaches, rainforests or beautiful women. Instead, they capture pictures of withered flowers, ruins , shattered glasses along with a single black bird corpse, a flower growing between wall cracks.

Why? Simply because they see what most people don’t-they see art even in the darkest deep corners. Everything in this world has an art on its own, yet not everyone can see those worth. So let us embrace our perfections and imperfections, if you can’t be perfect then at least be yourself as a whole. Why follow normal standards when you are in awesomesauce standards? Flowers, picked or not, will wither-but before that happens, at the very least one will notice its true worth. I smile and stand up,feeling refreshed. It takes faith to be happy. With light feelings, I walk home.

To all the girls out there feeling insecure like myself days ago ; to all the gardeners afraid to take chances to pick ; to all the people feeling worthless, Love yourself and be patient-remember you’re beautiful in your own way.

Original and irreplaceable.

Love you.

Special thanks to the people who were there for me when I hated myself, XOXO