Mimesis at Wal-Mart

Keith and I went to buy flowers today. There is not one bit of love for gardening or yard work in my blood at all and it is more of a pain in the butt than anything. I knew I would eventually be forced to participate so out of a generous spirit brought on by 9 days off (one more to go) I actually OFFERED to go. I brought it up. It was supposed to be a quick trip to Lowe’s for what we needed then home again. But….of course…..Lowe’s did not have nearly the selection they had last year. They didn’t have any of the variegated leafy anuals….nor did they have the tall green grasslike spikey things. None. So we bought a flat of petunias….some dusty miller (I love dusty miller) and some other tuborous looking annual with small carnation like flowers for the sun baked area near the mail box then headed next door to WalMart.

Up and down the aisles we went, looking for the tall green spikey things. None to be found. Darn. We found two flats of something similar….only it was brown. Tall brown grasslike spikey things. A dark rust colored brown. I wasn’t sure I liked them. They were BROWN. We looked around some more….and ended up back in front of the two flats of brown spikey plants. We were picking through them….still not sure we wanted them. Keith had two in his hands. A lady came over to where we were……”oh…….I like these” she said. “They are so unusual” Hmmmmmmmm…….suddenly, I liked them a whole lot better. It was as if they were magically more appealing….brown or not. Then….as she was looking through them…and there must have been 25 of them there, she looked up at Keith and said, “Can I have that one in your hand?” Even though she said it in jest, I was struck by the example of Girard’s theory. All 25 of the plants were very similar in size and all were equally healthy looking, yet, she focused on the one in Keith’s hand. And he was not about to give it up :) A striking example of mimesis…….right there in the aisle of the “always low prices” retail giant, yellow smiley faces looking on.