We had a great trip to the Auckland Botanical Gardens a few days ago. I must have read the labels on well over 100 plants and trees, most new to me. How many do I remember 2 days later? Somewhere in the neighborhood of one. A few years ago, that would have bothered me more, but I'm starting to let that go. As Gary Larson so aptly noted... my brain is full (and leaking a bit)
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I recall coming to a realization on while snorkeling in Kauai a year ago. I was floating above a multitude of beautiful tropical fish, and I was hit by the urge to go look them all up so I knew what species they were.. was that a Moorish Idol, or a Saddle Wrasse? Then it dawned on me.... Bill, you could do all of that work and proceed to forget them in a day, or you could just live in the moment and bask in the beautiful scene in front of you. The scientist in me rebelled for a short while, but the photographer and realist in me was able to let it go and I just floated and enjoyed the amazing colors and grace of all those fish.
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A year later I don't remember any of names, but I can still picture the yellows and blues of the fish darting in and out of the coral looking for lunch.
Carpe diem, man, carpe diem. Don't know how many of those diems I've got left, so I gotta carpe as much as I can.
I'm enjoying exploring new places and seeing new things, learning about the interconnections, but not so worried about putting everything into buckets and applying the correct labels. There are several trees endemic to New Zealand that I see often enough that I will likely remember what they are for some time.
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| Fern Tree |
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| Cabbage Tree |
Sure, I'd love to be able to learn and remember all the genus and species of all that I see, but knowing that isn't likely to happen, I'll focus on what I'm more likely to remember.... the sights of all the different bark textures, the beautiful sound of the tui singing to me in the evening, and smell of the ripening feijoas. That will stay with me.
Bark Textures
You have done well to live in a time where memorizing facts no longer matters. Not in a political sense (tho that is an interesting discussion), but rather in a technological one. We all carry little pocket computers that can access the world wide web. Want to remember the name of flora native to New Zealand? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flora_of_New_Zealand
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