Wildflowers

Recently I watched Blue Valley Songbird, a 1999 Dolly Parton movie where she sang several songs I had never heard, including “Wildflowers.” As with many of the songs Dolly wrote, this song held a special truth for her.

In the song, she talks about how wildflowers are plentiful and grow anywhere, but she wasn’t content to be part of the crowd. In the movie, and in real life, Dolly had more ambition that the people who had influence over her. In the movie, her manager/boyfriend took on the role of holding her back, discouraging her from playing to larger audiences. I believe this fictional character represented the conflicted feelings Dolly had about breaking away from Porter Wagoner.

I loved the song, and added it to my song list for our family band. The song makes me think of the wildflowers that I picked throughout the hills around the old home place. I would gather up bouquets of purple phlox, Indian paintbrush, brown-eyed susans, and other wildflowers I came across. One of the hills was covered with tiny white flowers that we all knew would transform into wild strawberries later in the summer.

The Wildflowers song is more about a person who feels different from the crowd than it is about flowers. I think that most of us feel different from our peers. We may be different in significant ways, or in ways that are insignificant, but some of us can’t tell the difference.

My brother Donnie was definitely a person who traveled to the beat of a different drum. He was different, and he didn’t care. In fact, he thrived on being wild and free.

Jim was a person who had a strong sense of self. He had principles that he wouldn’t compromise for anyone. Just because everyone around him thought or acted in a predictable way, Jim was not influenced by their behavior. Jim was intelligent, thoughtful, and hardheaded when it came to what he considered to be his path to follow. He loved his family with all his heart, and he would have laid his life on the line for any of us.

Many of us feel safest if we don’t stand out from the crowd, finding safety in numbers. Fear of how others may perceive us, keeps most of us in line. Really, how funny is it that some who want to be different, fall prey to cultish behavior when they find other like-minded people and blindly follow the leader.

We all have challenges to face in life, and watching a loved one withering away with dementia is a big one. How we handle adversity defines our character, faith, and fortitude. Tragedies that break some people make others stronger. 

I’ve noticed that people who have the least are often the ones who give the most to others. Some who don’t have monetary wealth, have riches of spirit, and give the gift of time. To be completely present in the moment is a trait that many of us do not have. We can be witnessing an important celebration or event, and the first thing we do is send a text or browse reactions on our smart phones.

Life used to be simpler. Once we had time to gather wildflowers in the woods and found time to visit with our neighbors. We used to play card games, have big dinners, and go for Sunday drives. We used to sit on the porch and drink coffee or tea.

When we talked religion or politics, we had thoughtful discussions, not angry words. After we watched a thirty-minute news program, we turned off the TV and went on with our lives.

Now, we look at wildflowers and think of them as weeds and contemplate how to get rid of them. In the song “Wildflowers,” the flowers represent people. Unfortunately, in today’s world, we seem to be trying to get rid of people who aren’t like us, or who don’t think like us. Instead of looking for the hundreds of opinions we agree on, we focus on one disagreement.

We no longer notice the beauty of the wildflower blooms, and instead wait for the pesky weeds to wither and die. Maybe it’s time to take a step back so that we can move forward in unity. 

 Copyright © July 2024 by L.S. Fisher

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