With these strange weather patterns here in North Carolina, flowers have been blossoming ahead of schedule. This gives us the early opportunity to admire them. Many of us enjoy the beauty of flowers, yet how many of us intentionally gaze upon them? How many of us can honestly say “I’m going to contemplate beauty and life’s impermanence, embodied by this flower.” The flower's beauty will fade, and the petals will fall away. Something may be born from the flower, or another flower will bud and blossom in its place. Life goes on while the contemplated flower's life will not. It will not last forever. In Japan they have one word for that entire concept. Hanami.
