Kairospix Photoblog
Life – Cat-tail Flower Spike Growing In The Waters
Posted by kairospix (Singapore, Singapore) on 15 August 2007 in Landscape & Rural and Portfolio.
Thanks to my p-blogger friend Tyan, I’m now enlightened as to the name of the plant that I posted yesterday. It is called the Cat-tail! What an interesting name! While I was surprised by it, I’m glad it wasn’t some other name like “skewered-hot-dog”. Ha, ha, ha… :)
I found out form the internet that actually it also has many other names like Bullrush (British) or Punks (American) and then there’s the more scientific one, called Typha. You can read more about this plant in detail here.
It’s also interesting to know from Tyan that there is actually a Chinese story book entitled 压伤的芦苇 (芦苇 is the Chinese name of Cat-tails) which means, quoting Tyan, “a cattail that has been bent, a story about how people who went through fire of tribulations but came forth stronger and firmer”. What an inspirational book it must be! I wonder if it has been translated into English as it sounds like a book worth reading. Maybe Tyan can translate it into English and publish it? I’m sure it would touch many lives. :)
In today’s shot, it is another shot of the cat-tail plant. But this time you see a single flower spike of cat-tail amongst the long slender leaves.
While this cat-tail flower spike isn’t bent it’s certainly alone. This lone cat-tail flower spike growing in the waters reminds me of how sometimes when you are going through your dark moments; you can feel really alone as somehow you just don’t feel like many people round you fully understand what you are going through. And so you feel alone.
But the sunlight on the waters in this shot also reminds me that when we come across someone who really listens to us and sincerely tries to understand our plight it is like having glimmers of hopeful light that accompany us through our moments of darkness. And we no longer feel completely alone.
I’m reminded by what my very experienced Greek lecturer recently said in a counselling course I’m taking, that 70-80% of the time it’s all about active listening or what some other might call as empathic (empathetic) listening.
I’m sure you’ve heard of these words of wisdom before, that there is a reason why God gave us two ears and only one mouth. Thank goodness that I have only one mouth because to be honest I find that I tend to be thinking of what I want to say even while trying to listen to the other party speaking. And when the other party stops talking, my words would gush forth! Imagine how much more verbal diarrhoea will surge torrentially forward if I had two mouths and only one ear!
And an aid to listening is silence, like how it seems to be quietly silent in this shot. That was the other thing I’ve learned about counselling, that it is okay and even helpful to have long empathic silences, so as to give more time for the client to fully express herself or himself. Sometimes that silence encourages them to think and talk through what they are facing and in the process may provide the light for coming out of the darkness and perhaps even healing.
May we all learn to speak less and listen more.
Camera - Canon Powershot G6
Lens - Canon 7.2 - 28.8mm (approx. 35 - 140mm)
Capture date - 12 Aug 2007
Aperture - f 8.0
Shutter speed - 1/13 sec
Shooting mode - aperture priority
Exposure bias - 0EV
Metering mode - Pattern
ISO - 50
Focal length - 28.8mm (approx. 140mm)
Stabilization - Tripod
Lighting? - Outdoor Natural Light
Flash - Not fired
Post-processing? - PS LRoom processed
Cropped? - No
