Roses have thorns.
Thorns have roses.
The roses do not erase the thorns.
But the thorns do not erase the roses.
They coexist, intertwine, share time and space in the same garden.
Woven together, intricate, true, full, real.
The roses are gentle, silky, fragrant, elegant.
The thorns are sharp, off-putting, uninviting, painful.
And yet, they go hand in hand, inseparable.
True, you can cut the thorns off a rose.
But that’s not how roses were meant to be.
There is dishonesty in that alteration, pretending the thorns do not exist.
Together, roses and thorns are whole.
And together, they are beautiful.
Truly, you are a worthy President of Book Club