The Lucky Bamboo

Lucky Bamboo?

For the last few weeks I’ve noticed a subtle change in an otherwise normalcy of the flora and fauna inside our house.  Everyday now, little by little things seem to be getting worse with one and I cannot seem to understand why and now I am starting to get mildly concerned.  So what does it mean when the “Lucky Bamboo” in your bathroom starts to die?  I’m left to ponder…does it know something I don’t?  Is it the proverbial canary in the coalmine?  Is there a higher power at work here and is this an ominous omen of odious and unspeakable things to come?  A portent of “luck lost” for the next seven years? (nah that’s a broken mirror)

"Digger"

Or is it the harbinger of something even more insidious…say, like the onset of a toenail fungus (onychomycosis) complete with an encore of “Digger” the “Dermatophyte” and all of his half-cousins setting up their “Crib” under the freshly pedicured nail of my big toe.

Well, ok, that may be a bit over the top, but still, the quandary…should I be concerned?  Maybe, it is remotely possible that I inadvertently offended a Wiccan and therein garnered a bad luck spell that is now slowly killing my “Lucky Bamboo”.  I don’t understand much about the Wicca form of religion and therefore I get suspicious.  I suppose that is normal and just part of human nature in that we tend to get superstitious about things we don’t understand.  After all when we fully understand something, there are no mysteries left. 

I don’t know about you, but while I like to know how things work, I have never enjoyed knowing how magic tricks are done, especially the really big ones.  To me, it is more fun to be amazed and entertained.  Just for that instant when the trick is done and there is this moment of whimsy and innocence rarely experienced in the day-to-day.

When do you uproot that plant that is dying?  Do you make that difficult choice while there is still green on the leaves, but the inevitable is at hand?  Then what if you were wrong and the plant was just going through a rough time and you in your haste jumped the gun?  Do you take the cautious approach and wait until you can snap it like a toothpick, then rip it out by the roots and righteously “hoop shoot” it into the round file?  The last option…maybe just ignore it and if you wait long enough someone else will do the dirty deed and that way there is no guilt.

 Well cursed or cursed not, I suspect there isn’t much hope left for my “Lucky Bamboo” who has seemed to run out of luck too soon and with a little luck, won’t take me with it.  Now soon, I will be faced with an empty vase and the dilemma of what to do with it.  Shall I provide a home for another “not so lucky bamboo” and be faced with going through this all over again, or relegate the vacant vase to the hall closet and in a few years have it and others similar, take the inevitable trip to the local Goodwill.

I know, you are probably thinking it is only a plant… just get over it, but remember, it is still a living thing for now.  Doesn’t that merit some consideration? 

So what would you do?

 Love, Dad