a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment
Trombone  ·  2659 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Sci-Fi club no. 25: Slow Sculpture

Sure.

    People are living, growing things, too. I don’t know a hundredth part of what you do about bonsai but I do know this—when you start one, it isn’t often the strong straight healthy ones you take. It’s the twisted sick ones that can be made the most beautiful. When you get to shaping humanity, you might remember that.

In my interpretation, she's saying that you can take "twisted, sick" people (in the mind) and make them into something beautiful, and this is where my problem is. You can influence kids maybe, but not adults. When we're adults we become quite set in our ways. There are exceptions to this of course, but it's generally very hard, nigh impossible, for people - especially "twisted, sick" ones - to make such a turnaround. And, generally when it happens, it's the result of some sort of massive event like a near-death experience. Not very bonsai.

Insofar as treating a relationship like a bonsai tree I don't have this issue.