My pet potato
One night in June 2015 my wife cooked a stew for dinner. Potatoes were part of it. It was delicious. I noticed, though, that she did not use all the potatoes that she bought. There was one small one left sitting on top of the kitchen dishwasher. I saw it every day while going about my business, and I thought it looked unusually ugly. No wonder my wife didn`t cook it. Who would want to eat such a root? It just sat there for a few days. Then the few days became a week. Then one day I noticed little green shoots coming out of the potato skin. It was alive! The potato was farmed, picked and marketed, and barely missed the stewing pot, and it was alive! And not only that but these green shoots told me that I was seeking Life. It wanted to live. It was at that moment that I took pity on the potato. I`m a sentimental fellow, and despite recognizing the necessity to kill plants and animals for food I am not a fan of destruction. Every home, like every classroom, ought to host a plant, a creature, and children. So I quickly put it in a white paper cup with some water and put it in the sun on the balcony. Then I enjoyed watching it grow little by little. I take its survival as a metaphor for the human condition, and a statement about the evolution of Life on planet Earth. No matter the conditions, Life finds a way.
Published in Tokyo Notice Board bi-weekly magazine, September25-October 8, 2015.