{"id":3391,"date":"2026-05-05T11:43:50","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T09:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/patryk.zaleski.com.pl\/?page_id=3391"},"modified":"2026-05-09T01:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T23:32:14","slug":"message-to-students-about-a-weed","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/patryk.zaleski.com.pl\/?page_id=3391","title":{"rendered":"Mes\u00adsa\u00adge to Stu\u00addents, abo\u00adut a weed"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row type=\u201cfull-nopad\u201d css=\u201d.vc_custom_1777992143107{padding-right: 5% !important;padding-left: 5% !important;}\u201d][vc_column offset=\u201cvc_hidden-lg vc_hid\u00adden-md vc_hidden-sm\u201d][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=\u201c3422\u201d img_size=\u201cfull\u201d alignment=\u201ccenter\u201d][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row type=\u201cfull-nopad\u201d css=\u201d.vc_custom_1777992118128{padding-top: 48px !important;padding-right: 5% !important;padding-bottom: 48px !important;padding-left: 5% !important;}\u201d][vc_column width=\u201c1\/4\u201d][vc_column_text css=\u201c\u201d]<\/p>\n

Mes\u00adsa\u00adge to Students<\/h4>\n

(abo\u00adut a weed)[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][vc_column width=\u201c3\/5\u201d][vc_column_text css=\u201c\u201d]<\/p>\n

An Ame\u00adri\u00adcan poet, Archi\u00adbald Ran\u00addolph Ammons<\/a>, has writ\u00adten this poem, enti\u00adtled \u201cReflec\u00adti\u00adve\u201d:<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text css=\u201d.vc_custom_1777974750268{padding-right: 15% !important;padding-left: 15% !impor\u00adtant;}\u201d]<\/p>\n

I found a
\nweed
\nthat had a<\/p>\n

mir\u00adror in it
\nand that
\nmirror<\/p>\n

looked in at
\na mirror
\nin<\/p>\n

me that
\nhad a
\nweed in it<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text css=\u201c\u201d]<\/p>\n

Poems are not easy to trans\u00adla\u00adte. But the effort to do so is wor\u00adth\u00adwhi\u00adle \u2013 poems cap\u00adtu\u00adre essen\u00adces just as mathe\u00adma\u00adti\u00adcal equ\u00adations or che\u00admi\u00adcal struc\u00adtu\u00adres do. And this poem tells us some\u00adthing wise abo\u00adut what we, as human beings, sho\u00aduld aspi\u00adre to.<\/p>\n

The poet finds a weed, a low\u00adly, sim\u00adple plant. A weed is first of all a survi\u00advor, it must have a suc\u00adcess\u00adful adap\u00adti\u00adve mecha\u00adnism. A weed is not weak. It is cle\u00adar that the poet has looked care\u00adful\u00adly at the weed, tho\u00adught abo\u00adut it.<\/p>\n

This is what scien\u00adce does, my friends.<\/p>\n

The world is full of ordi\u00adna\u00adry things \u2013 weeds \u2013 that bear care\u00adful exa\u00admi\u00adna\u00adtion. And reward tho\u00adse who look care\u00adful\u00adly, look in, look abo\u00adut. And not just look with our eyes, but stu\u00addy the weed with all our sen\u00adses, with our tools too.<\/p>\n

Dri\u00adven by our curio\u00adsi\u00adty, we look at the weed. We reason out its remar\u00adka\u00adble bio\u00adche\u00admi\u00adstries, we see how it survi\u00adves our own efforts (her\u00adbi\u00adci\u00addes) to kill it. As we learn more abo\u00adut the bio\u00adlo\u00adgy, che\u00admi\u00adstry, phy\u00adsics and eco\u00adlo\u00adgy of the weed, we are fil\u00adled with wonder.<\/p>\n

And with fur\u00adther questions. It all comes from sim\u00adple curio\u00adsi\u00adty and the per\u00adse\u00adve\u00adran\u00adce to look at what others would pass by with a glance.<\/p>\n

But the poet goes fur\u00adther. He says the weed has \u201ca mir\u00adror in it, and that mir\u00adror looked in at a mir\u00adror in me\u2026\u201d Is he just play\u00ading games? Yes, word games, games of infi\u00adni\u00adte mir\u00adrors. But A.R. Ammons is also poin\u00adting at some\u00adthing else, some\u00adthing deep.<\/p>\n

By looking care\u00adful\u00adly at the bio\u00adche\u00admi\u00adstry and bio\u00adlo\u00adgy of the weed we also learn much abo\u00adut ourselves.<\/p>\n

We sha\u00adre many enzy\u00admes, many genes with that weed. Yes, the weed respi\u00adres in a dif\u00adfe\u00adrent way. But many of its che\u00admi\u00adcal pro\u00adces\u00adses are in our cells. Once we were one, that weed and we. We diver\u00adged, but not as far as we, pro\u00adud humans think.<\/p>\n

This is the won\u00adder\u00adful, hum\u00adbling les\u00adson of mole\u00adcu\u00adlar bio\u00adlo\u00adgy. A.R. Ammons makes us think abo\u00adut that rela\u00adtion\u00adship. And that we and the weed are tied in one cyc\u00adle \u2013 not of just thin\u00adking of the weed as a harm\u00adful plant to be era\u00addi\u00adca\u00adted, but as part of a won\u00adder\u00adful hall of mir\u00adrors in which we and the weed coexist in one world.<\/p>\n

And the poet makes us think too of the ten\u00adta\u00adti\u00adve natu\u00adre of our under\u00adstan\u00adding of the natu\u00adre of the weed, and of our\u00adse\u00adlves. We are smart, but our intel\u00adli\u00adgen\u00adce is not as fool\u00adpro\u00adof as we think.<\/p>\n

We under\u00adstand the weed, but that under\u00adstan\u00adding is pro\u00advi\u00adsio\u00adnal, sha\u00adped by the mir\u00adrors within us, always capa\u00adble of being improved.<\/p>\n

By you.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=\u201c16\u201d][vc_empty_space height=\u201c16\u201d][vc_empty_space height=\u201c16\u201d][vc_single_image image=\u201c3400\u201d img_size=\u201cfull\u201d][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row type=\u201cfull-nopad\u201d css=\u201d.vc_custom_1777992143107{padding-right: 5% !important;padding-left: 5% !important;}\u201d][vc_column offset=\u201cvc_hidden-lg vc_hi\u00add\u00adden-md vc_hidden-sm\u201d][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=\u201c3422\u201d img_size=\u201cfull\u201d alignment=\u201ccenter\u201d][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row type=\u201cfull-nopad\u201d css=\u201d.vc_custom_1777992118128{padding-top: 48px !important;padding-right: 5% !important;padding-bottom: 48px !important;padding-left: 5% !important;}\u201d][vc_column width=\u201c1\/4\u201d][vc_column_text css=\u201c\u201d] Mes\u00adsa\u00adge to Stu\u00addents (abo\u00adut a weed)[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][vc_column width=\u201c3\/5\u201d][vc_column_text css=\u201c\u201d] An Ame\u00adri\u00adcan poet, Archi\u00adbald Ran\u00addolph Ammons, has writ\u00adten this poem, enti\u00adtled \u201cReflec\u00adti\u00adve\u201d: [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text css=\u201d.vc_custom_1777974750268{padding-right: 15% !important;padding-left: 15% !impor\u00adtant;}\u201d] I found a weed that had a \u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2917,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/page-full.php","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3391","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/patryk.zaleski.com.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/patryk.zaleski.com.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/patryk.zaleski.com.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patryk.zaleski.com.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patryk.zaleski.com.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3391"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/patryk.zaleski.com.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3588,"href":"https:\/\/patryk.zaleski.com.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3391\/revisions\/3588"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patryk.zaleski.com.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/patryk.zaleski.com.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}