Sunflowers

There is a small coffee shop my friend Martin and I used to go to for tea. We had made a habit of going there after strolling in Victoria Park or lying on the grass in London Fields. A couple of weeks before I left the UK we were on our way to the coffee shop, this time, however, we were walking along Regent's Canal. We stumbled upon some beautiful sunflowers and we stopped to have a closer look and take some photos. These sunflowers were truly gorgeous. Their leaves were so smooth and yellow, and the central part was a dark vibrant brown. The stem was also quite long and they were on the side of the pavement in front of a wooden fence. As you may already know, the leaves and flower head of a sunflower follow the direction of the sun, changing their orientation from east to west during the day. After admiring the splendour of these flowers we moved on. It was a sunny, warm August afternoon.

It has been three months since I left London and the weather has grown colder in the UK. Temperatures are below zero and snow has been forecast. I was speaking to Martin, who told me he'd been walking along the canal where we saw those sunflowers. There, where beauty once was, now lies death. I could not help but think that we human beings, just like sunflowers, live on this earth for a very short time. Just like those sunflowers, we grow, we reach the climax of our lives, we grow old, we wither and eventually we die. As time goes by, with every day, every hour, every minute and every second going by, we will eventually come to the end of our existence. We will not always have the softness and brightness of those sunflowers. The sun will not always shine and the warmth that gives us life will one day be gone. Someday we will start to get wrinkly. Someday we will become droopy. Someday we will no longer be here.

Lots of people will walk along that canal and look at us. And so whilst we are yellow and following the direction of the sun, we should try and absorb as much energy as we can. We should try and make the most of our time whilst we are still full of life. And when we are old and withering, people will look at us and remember the beautiful sunflower standing tall and pretty along the canal.