Article Published | 5.23.17

"Philosophical Observations of a Science Teacher"

I have more respect for this potato than I do for most people I know.

This potato has been in our cabinet for about six months. Many other potatoes were subjected to the same torture. Each deprived completely of any sunlight this potato is the only one that remains.

Potato plants, as I am sure you know require sunlight to synthesize sugar for use as fuel to grow. In times of plentiful sunlight, potato plants store those sugars in the form of starches. That stored starch is the potato. In times of darkness, the plant uses that storage of starch so that its growth is not interrupted.

As you look at this potato you can see it has taken a beating; forced to consume itself in the struggle to survive. Its girth has been diminished, its skin is wrinkled, bruised, and the delicious insides depleted. Yet we also see growth. Each little stock is a middle finger F-you to all of life's adversity. If planted this potato has the potential to grow into a productive potato plant. This potato is a survivor.

I have so much respect for this potato that I put it on a pedestal, literally. Well long enough to take the picture; then I threw it in the trash.

The lesson here is sometimes no matter how hard you try to overcome you still may end up trash. But who knows the fate of this potato? Maybe there's still a chance. Eventually, this potato, having overcome so much only to be thrown away, will end up at the dump and thrown in a hole. After that hole fills up with all that has been discarded, a bulldozer will push a big pile of rich fertile soil over the top of this potato.

The soil is in your dump hole potato. What are you going to do?

-Nicholas Sourvelis