Survival of the big, bad and ugly
Posted by: Fortun in: Fortuns Urban Gardening > The Urban Gardener
When my humans came back, some of the plants had died but a few had survived. Somebody did come and give the plants (and me) water but it seems that we all missed the humans too. Some time ago, I heard some people saying that they believed in the survival of the fittest…. It seems that these people believe that everybody and everything should fight against each other in order to survive, so that only the most powerful can survive. It seems to me that one must be pretty silly to believe something like that. I’m not very fit, but I am lucky enough to have kind humans to look after me -so I can just lie here in the shade, enjoy life and think about things. Outside, in the garden, there are other cats dying of starvation because they can’t find enough food. How can a cat stay fit if there isn’t enough to eat in the area? How can one think about how to solve the problems of life if one is too weak and hungry to think? Where is a starving cat to find the energy if all the birds have died from the pollution produced by unthinking humans?
If “Survival of the Fittest” means the survival of the strongest and most powerful it must surely mean that those big ugly (almost cat sized) rats will soon inherit the earth…. Urgh!….
I think my little garden is a good demonstration of the way things work. Neither I nor the humans know much about plants. We just give them some water, a little shelter and a kind word now and again. So I suppose it’s pretty much up to the plants how they grow. They have to do the best they can (as we all have to) under the circumstances available. However, look at the photos of the two windows in my garden…..
It seems that even the strongest plants have difficulty growing if they don’t get enough water and sun. In fact, in some cases, it is even the big and powerful plants that die first -through lack of a suffient supply of energy and nutrients. Apparently it’s not the plants themselves -but the environment which is the most important influence on how well everything grows……
So surely “Survival of the Fittest” must really mean survival of the things that fit best into their current environment. I’ve recently seen a book lying around here about growing things -it seems that even plants can be choosy. Some like lots of sun (like my silly old friend George), while others prefer the shade (like me)…. some plants like nice wet rich and acidic soil full of nutritious rotting things (yuck) while others prefer a well drained soil with very few nutrients…. (personally, I like a nice well drained bowl full of delicious nutrients)….
If only the most powerful can survive -then surely only the big, ugly, greedy and most useless rats and weeds will be the only things to survive. All that is beautiful, delicate and perhaps of value to others will either be destroyed or have to hide in places where the big powerful bullies of the world cannot find them. I don’t think I’d like to live in a world like that.
Of course the danger is that, when the nice things start dying and the big and stupid things take over, then there aren’t enough clever or beautiful creatures left to understand the depth of the disaster. Then it will be too late to stop -but who will be left to care?…… Maybe nature is kind, after all.
