Monday Morning Musings:
I saw a van
With the name “Otis”
Neatly labeled on its side.
I thought of elevators.
Of course,
Who wouldn’t?
When our daughters were young,
They noticed the elevators
At my mother’s apartment house
Were made by Otis.
The elevators at my father’s
Were made by another company.
How often do adults observe
Such things?
To us,
The elevators
Were merely useful technology.
To them,
The elevators were different and
Distinct personalities
Leading to new worlds
And adventures.
So many things adults
Never notice
Or pass by
Because they’re commonplace.
I used to sit on the floor
When my children were young,
To glimpse things from their angle,
To anticipate what might be appealing
Or interesting
To their young minds.
Curiosity must be in our genes,
I mean all Earth’s creatures.
Who hasn’t seen an animal explore
What is in that box, bag,
Or hole in the ground?
But humans want to go further.
My husband and I went to the movies.
No, that’s not so far,
But we saw The Martian,
Matt Damon with wry comments
And prodigious feats of memory
Is in survivor mode on Mars.
The Hitchhiker’s Hike to the Galaxy
Says to always carry a towel.
But Matt Damon has potatoes.
And I think about
How ancient peoples
Learned to cultivate the
Toxic tubers.
And make them palatable.
They were grown and
Eaten by the Incas,
Then brought to Spain
By conquerors
Who saw
What they wanted to see,
Who believed they were
In a New World,
When it was merely
New to them.
But they did see potatoes,
Gold of another sort
Becoming a source of fuel for
“The Old World”
Helping to feed
Its people,
And allowing its nations to grow,
While those of the new
Were destroyed
By the conquerors,
Men and microbes.
But exchanges go both ways.
After a time,
The blight traveled, too,
To destroy potatoes in Europe,
And
In Ireland,
Sending more immigrants
From old world
To new.
And helping a
Young nation grow,
At a cost though,
There always is.
Matt Damon’s character
Attempts to conquer
A world that is truly
New–
To humans, anyway.
But it’s a vast universe,
So who knows?
And I wonder about
cross-contamination,
But that’s for another time.
We learn from the movie
That a knowledge of botany
Is important.
So is being able to remember
Past studies,
And to realize
That it often
Takes many minds
To solve a problem.
The movie has fun with music, too,
And I’m reminded of real-life astronaut
Commander Chris Hadfield
Performing “Space Oddity”
Aboard the International Space Station–
One of my most favorite videos ever.
(It’s just possible I’ve watched it over and over.)
Although Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
Remains my ultimate astronaut hero.
What do you mean he’s not real?
Of course he is,
Smart and confident enough
To realize
A child,
Or an alien life form
Might see what others
Do not,
And that “exploring new worlds”
Does mean seeking out
But not conquering.
And music is important
On the Enterprise
And literature
And art
Because these are things that
Make us human.
And our creativity
Enhances our thinking
And ability to solve problems,
Which is important,
Especially if you are ever
Stranded
And left for dead
On an uninhabited planet,
Or anywhere else
For that matter.
I think the lesson,
If there is a lesson
To life,
Is never to stop observing,
To sometimes view things
From a child’s perspective,
And to look at things
In new ways,
And to value your friends
So they will do the utmost
To rescue you
If you are ever marooned,
And to pay attention to every
Little thing–
Because it might save you some day–
And of course,
To bring
Potatoes,
And perhaps a towel.
“Look at the moon, will you! Tsk-tsk-tsk. Potato weather for sure.”
–Thorton Wilde, Our Town
“It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.”
–Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Chris Hadfield sings David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” aboard the International Space Station. Well worth watching.
This Smithsonian Magazine article gives a brief history of the potato.
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