<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" dir="auto" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">all I have to offer</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">as one of those who have had the honor </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">of being called to be among your friends,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">this is all i have to offer:</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">those of us who have been given </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">the blessing to deeply delve into the lives of plants</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">are gifted with the opportunity </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">to let them ground us in the earth forever. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">what we learn through them is this:</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">that even the most gorgeous or delicious</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">plant in the world must be fitted </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">to a context that honors its peculiar stance, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">or else we will be wasting its gift.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">what I mean is that a plant never stands in isolation, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">but is a holobiont woven into a fabric </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">of mycorrhizal threads, bacterial nodules, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">resplendent pollinators and allegiant seed dispersers </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">who have shaped it --and us-- as much as we shape them.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">the reason to be engaged in science</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">is to each day become more humble, more uncertain </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">that there is only way of looking at or being in the world, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">to accept our capacity for being wrong, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">and to embrace how truth is iterative and never final.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">when we carry that sensibility with us</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">we slowly come to understand that every tyranny, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">every disparity that has made humans less </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">than what we should be</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">has a solution to be found in the myriad ways </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">plants have managed to live under </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">harsh and unforgiving circumstances</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">(like those we are living in now) </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">while sustaining their dignity and capacity to delight.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">if ever we adopt fresh ways of living in this world </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">that will might help us all survive, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">plants can offer us </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">options that few human words </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">have yet to circumscribe.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(21, 23, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="color: rgb(21, 23, 25); white-space: pre;"> </span><font color="#151719" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(21, 23, 25);" class="">- Gary Nabham</span></font></div></div></body></html>