The gardeners among us or at least those with a green thumb love to spend their precious time on the knees, hands covered with dirt and connecting with nature. No garden is really complete without a rose garden. Roses are beautiful not only for their variety of colors but also their delightful scents. We pluck them and given as an offering of love to someone we care about. For some reason I have always been afraid of roses. I thought back long and hard and remembered an incident in England as a child, running innocently through bushes of roses and then picking at a stem and getting nastily  pricked. I can still seem to recall the pain and the mending of my wounds by my parents. A negative emotion has been stuck in my mind with what others would deem a magnificent flower. The rose has been the subject of countless stories, symbolic gestures and terrific icons of love, power or strength, and in some instances spirituality in various faiths or as in British royal history the famous war of roses signifying the historical battles of rivaling Royal Houses.

The petals are elegant and are interestingly edible not only to humans but to many animals like squirrels and deer who are unafraid of the thorns. Those prickly protectors deter some but not everyone. So too can this apply to our own personalities. Rosy on the outside we are ever cheerful, happy and at peace with our surroundings. With wonderful scent we give off the vibes of being good, kind and gentle. Underneath we have the thorns, or subconscious driven by fear, to turn our outlook pleasant appearance into one of anger, resentment and hate that wards off anyone coming towards us. There are those people who are not perturbed by the outward appearance and will still assist and befriend us, like the timely squirrel or deer who are undisturbed by the thorny stems.

My reaction to the roses was one of negativity and yet it was so strong and intense that it has transcended time and lasted this long into adulthood. Our personas that we emanate can generate strong feelings and energies within others to either welcome them near us or deter them from us. That persona is perceived and remembered by history. We can look at the outward bouquets of roses or even remember the solitary beautiful rose but never forget the potential of the harming thorns within that can hurt. The thorns are a protective mechanism for the flower, and so is the power of fear to keep us from harm by being vigilant and sharp to enable self preservation, it is evolutionary. Yet there are thornless roses that thrive just as well. Either we can be rose bushes with thorns and tolerate adversity or we can be thorn bushes with roses and bear sacrifice. My opinion is that of keeping the thorns pruned and at a minimum so as to allow just enough prickliness to be able to protect yourself from getting eaten but overwhelmingly be the rose. Ever attractive, ever at peace, symbolizing beauty, purity and dignity. Keeping an elevated status amongst the botanical world has certainly not been easy for the rose, but not an impossibility. Happiness, serenity and goodness are the qualities that the rose instills in you when you lays eyes on it, I would encourage you to take a lesson from this messenger of nature and be the same.

Roses are red, violets are blue, I wish only peace from me to you.