When does a seed become a plant?

Gardening can be a very rewarding activity. Admittedly, having to fight a garden hose in the middle of the summers heat isn’t all that fun, and this hasn’t been the most productive year. But, after your plants have grown and you get to pick your first produce of the season, you can’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment. It’s nice to stand there and think ‘You see that? I did that. I planted seeds, nurtured my plants, watched them grow, and now I get to enjoy the fruits of my labour.’

This brings us to our philosophical question for the day. When does a seed become a plant? When it’s in the ground? When it develops roots? When the first sprout appears? When it grows to full size? When it flowers? When it produces? What is the moment when it’s no longer a seed, but a plant?

By definition, one could argue, it becomes a plant the moment it’s planted. Once the seed is in the ground and covered in soil, it’s a plant. No longer a seed in your hand, in that moment, it’s started the growing process, even if you can’t see it happening. At any point in time you can dig it up or pluck it out of the ground, but it’s still a plant regardless. Nothing can change that.

Most people who know me no that I don’t have much patience for politics, especially given the current climate we live in. This country is divided in a way that a lot of people haven’t seen before. We have grown spiteful and hate-filled. People feel like they have the agency to attack others simply for the thought-crime of not agreeing with them. To be totally honest, the state of our country worries me. I’m not one to start storing up supplies preparing for the next civil war. But, I’m worried about the way people have redefined what is acceptable social behaviour. Where will we be in six months? A year? Ten years? Sometimes I worry this divide we’ve created won’t be healed.

I’ve gotten to a point now that I’m so tired of hearing about politics, whenever someone brings it up I just want to immediately leave the room. It seems like it’s something I can’t get away from. I, am, exhausted. I try to avoid any political discussions at all cost. I miss being able to have a civil, decent, meaningless discussion with someone and it not go there.

That being said, there are some topics I feel I can’t refrain from addressing. I don’t know who you are. I don’t know if you care about what I write. To be honest, I’m not concerned with who reads this. I just like this as an avenue that I can work out thoughts I have, and if some people take the time to read them, great. My words may not curry much favour with you, but I can at least go to sleep tonight knowing that I said that which I needed to say, even if no one listens.

I had the unfortunate experience lately of having to explain to someone what a post-birth abortion is, and that there are in fact people who support it. In the interest of honesty I will gladly point out that I wasn’t always as strictly pro-life as I am today. There was a time when I took a hardcore libertarian view of all things, abortion included. I didn’t agree with it, but I didn’t feel like I had the right to tell someone else what to do in that situation. This was in the earlier days when abortions were thought of in terms of first trimester almost exclusively. Then things shifted and people started to accept mid-term, and later-term abortions. Now, post-birth. When I was younger this wasn’t something I had to worry much about, being a man I can’t get pregnant, nor would I ever need to abort. As the thought of female body autonomy got more extreme so did I, just in the other direction.

There was a church I would pass by often when I was younger. Every year on the anniversary of roe v. wade they would put a number of white crosses on their lawn equal to the number of abortions that took place that year. At the time, I didn’t think much of it. Now, I understand. I cry everytime I see it.

Imagine standing there wondering about each one. Boy? Girl? What would they have grown up to be? Doctor? Lawyer? Truck driver? Mechanic? I guess we’ll never know. My chest hurts just writing this post. We can argue endlessly about fetal development, viability and the effect the advancements in science play in it. I don’t have the energy for it anymore. I would instead bring you back to our question for today;

When does a seed become a plant?

.

.

.