私が小学校の頃、必ず学校に一人は冬でもランニングに半ズボンで登校する生徒がいた。そして大抵その寒さに強い超健康優良児は、他の生徒たちが風邪で休む事があってもほとんど休む事なく皆勤賞であったように覚えている。彼は単に寒さに強い少年だったのか、もしくは彼のスタイルを崩せずにそうとう我慢していたのか。理由こそ分からないが、彼のような寒さへの挑戦は今の私には決して出来ない。私はと言えば長ズボンにあたたかなジャンバーを着て、さらにはあたたかなマフラーを首周りに巻く周到さ。過去に女子高生だった時、短いスカートの制服で冷たい風にものともしなかった時期もあったはずだが、もう過去の寒い格好には戻れない。年齢と寒さを感じる感覚は比例するのだろうか。先日実家のある北海道へ帰った。冬時期はどこの家でも庭木に竹や藁、コモを使って雪囲いをしている。その中でもシャクナゲに至っては、その耐えている具合はあまりにも痛々しく毎年この時期見る度に心配になる。しかし春にはまた花を咲かせてしゃきっと元気になると聞いてさらに驚いた。植物の秘めたる可能性は無限大である。こんなにも寒い過酷な状況で、こんな状態になっても大丈夫なのだと。生活場所を動かす事の出来ない植物たちにとって、寒さから身を守る事はすなわち死活問題だ。あるものは葉の色を変え、あるものは活動を少し休止させ、またあるものは地上部分を枯らす事で困難な状況から身を守っている。そういえば我が家の庭でも現在初夏から咲き続け、その長寿記録を更新しつつあるナスタチウムが他の一年草が枯れて行く中で、何らかの対策を取っている風もなく元気な緑色を維持し成長し続けている。脅威の粘り咲きは、まるでランニング小学生のごとく風邪などひきそうにもない。寒さに強い種であったのか、もしくは環境がたまたま良かったのか、もしくは寒さへの挑戦なのか。その健康優良児ナスタチウム君は今日もまだ緑でがんばっている。
TENACIOUS BLOOMING
When I was in elementary school, there was a student who always went to school, wearing half pants and a sleevless running shirt in winter. And the super healthy or the cold-hearted children remember that it was a badge of honor to run without a rest while other students took shelter from the cold.
Was he simply a cold-hearted boy, or did he endure the cold without breaking his style? I do not know why, but I can never do a challenge in the cold like him. I'm talking about wearing a warm jumper over long pants, and even a warm muffler around the neck.
When I was a school girl in the past, there was a time when I didn't mind going cold winds with a short skirt uniform, but I can not return to the past cold weather anymore. Is the feeling of age and cold feel proportionate?
The other day I went back to Hokkaido where my parents live. In the winter season every home is using bamboo, straw, and "Komo" to protect garden trees from the snow. Of these plants I am painfully concerned to look at the rhododendron sufferering through every winter. However, I was later surprised to hear that the flowers bloomed again in the spring and it became cheerful again.
The hidden possibilities of plants are infinite. It will be OK in such a cold and harsh situation, even if it gets in such a terrible state. For plants that can not move from their habitat, protecting themselves from the cold is a matter of life and death. Some change the color of the leaves, some stop their activity a little, some are protecting themselves from difficult situations by withering only the part above ground.
By the way, even now our house garden continues to bloom from the early summer, the Nasturtium is updating its longevity record and going to wither away another year of grass, it keeps growing constantly maintaining a healthy green color without taking any such protective measures.
The tenaciously blooming Nasturtium does not seem to catch a cold like a primary school student in short sleeves. Was it a strong seed against the cold, or was it that the environment happened to be good, or was it a challenge against the cold?
That health-conscious child Nasturtium is still working hard today.