8
" I imagined the lies the valedictorian was telling them right now. About the exciting future that lies ahead. I wish she'd tell them the truth: Half of you have gone as far in life as you're ever going to. Look around. It's all downhill from here. The rest of us will go a bit further, a steady job, a trip to Hawaii, or a move to Phoenix, Arizona, but out of fifteen hundred how many will do anything truly worthwhile, write a play, paint a painting that will hang in a gallery, find a cure for herpes? Two of us, maybe three? And how many will find true love? About the same. And enlightenment? Maybe one. The rest of us will make compromises, find excuses, someone or something to blame, and hold that over our hearts like a pendant on a chain. "
― Janet Fitch , White Oleander
9
" Do you know why the lotus is one of my favorite flowers?" I cocked my head to one side so I could see his expression. He shook his head. " This beautiful flower lives in the most vile, muddy water of swamps and bogs," I said and rubbed the smooth metal of the pendant between my fingers. He frowned. " No, seriously... the grosser the environment, the better," I said. " So let me get this straight. You like a flower that lives in disgusting places?" One of his eyebrows rose. " That ain't right." " No, I love this flower," I corrected. He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, " Seriously?" " What?" You don't believe me?" " Sure, I believe you. It's just weird." " I'll tell you why, but only if you promise not to laugh," I said. He nodded. Taking a cleansing breath, I rested my head against the seat, closed my eyes, and took that scary first step. " This flower stays in the mud and muck all night long." I peeked at him without moving my head. His face had become set in the smooth lines of one who listens intently. " Then, at sunrise, it climbs toward the light and opens into a pristine bloom. After the sun goes down, the bloom sinks into the mire. Even though it spends the whole night underwater, the flower emerges every morning as beautiful as the day before." Smiling, I swiveled in my seat to face him. " I love this flower because it reminds me that we get second chances every day, no matter what muck life drags us through. "