Autumn Equinox 2024—Learning Sunflower Wisdom

       It’s one week before the Autumnal Equinox, and everywhere I go I see those happy faces of the resilient and charming wild sunflowers.  They consistently keep blooming through the heat, the winds and rain, the snow, and some even through a few frosts of autumn.  They adapt to almost every kind of space that gathers just a little bit of rain whenever it rains.  And they decorate the dusty dry roadsides on every country lane or highway running throughout the West.
       These wonderful sunflowers are drought tolerant, storm tolerant, heat and cold tolerant, tough as nails, and still beautiful.  Furthermore, they are an important food source for countless wild birds and other small rodents and mammals.
       Lately I’ve found it difficult to keep a positive outlook while being beaten and battered by climate change’s searing heat, howling winds, and crushing storms.  I’ve found it difficult to remain upbeat while watching ignorance rear it’s ugly head in America’s political arena.  And it’s tough to navigate the swirling currents of changing technology and AI.
       But when I look at those wild sunflowers smiling brightly throughout it all, following the rain and the sun and freely feeding the wildlife, I gain from them the simple wisdom of quietly doing the best I can to simply adapt to changes, keep intellectually blooming, and dedicate my life to any and all wild things that come my way.
       And so this Autumn Equinox will find me out walking or cycling or perhaps roller skiing along a sunflower-graced roadway basking in their happy glow.