A scientific theory

            I recently read somewhere, that all living things are made of energy and that we have the ability to give and take our energies to and from the things around us as well. The people we love and care about fill with more motivation and strength when we show them how we feel. And, so the opposite happens when we neglect or put people we don't like down. They become depressed and seem to physically shrink from the energy that was snatched from them. The story that I read was fiction but based on an actual theory still studied today. In the story, these scientists plant some fruits and vegetables in one field and they release their positive mental energies by talking to the plants and nurturing them like they were their human offspring. In another field, they planted the same vegetation in the same conditions but they did only what was necessary and nothing more. No talking or releasing their mental energies to these plants. After a few weeks they noticed that the plants that were talked to and given that extra mental attention grew twice as large as the plants in the field that were ignored. This got me thinking. This may just be a story of fiction based on someone's theory but I wondered if maybe there really was some truth to this. I'm open-minded. So, I decided to put this theory to the test.

            About a week and half ago, I drove over to the nearest Home Depot and bought myself two pots, both about 8x3 divided in eight sections, potting soil and two kinds of seeds, basil and lavender. I was excited, this felt like grade school science fair all over again. When I got home, I put my green thumb on and went about planting my seeds. First, I started with the pot where I was to be putting all of my mental energy. I opened the packet of basil seeds and as I poured out a dime size amount into my palm, I whispered lovingly to them while Gizmo sat beside me looking very confused. Then I went ahead and dropped two seeds into four of the eight sections of the pot and continued to do the same with the lavender in the other four. Tucked nicely in their beds and after singing them a lullaby to sleep I put them on the windowsill and started on the next pot.

            I couldn't help but feel like Cruella Deville when I started on these poor seedlings. I suppose for this experiment to work properly, I had to go the other extreme, mentally abuse them. My heart was torn. I secretly want these sad little seeds to grow big and strong but I had to put up the air that I didn't. So I told them they were useless and would never amount to anything with a frigid tone in my voice. Then I dropped the seeds in disgust into their little dirt coffins and threw them onto the sill next to the others. I felt like an awful waste of energy after that and walked out of my kitchen with a lump in my throat and tears welling in my eyes. Every morning after planting my harvest, I would go to the sill to observe their progress and coo at the pot that needed to soak up my energy, "Good morning my darlings. Are you growing for mamma? Yes you are. Such good little boys mamma has."  Then I would give them all a little spritz of water and look coolly at the red headed stepchildren in the pot next to them, "Good for nothings. I never should have planted you." I'm such a sucky person. After a week, I noticed that both pots were growing exactly the same, tall, strong and leafy green. However, the lavender had yet to sprout from either pot.

            This morning, I went to check on the plants of my obsession and to my surprise, a lavender seed had sprouted! However, it wasn't from the pot that got all of my love and attention, it came from the poor, abused saps that sat in the pot next to them. I couldn't believe my eyes. They showed me, I thought. Good for them! Way to deter and prosper in the face of difficulty and opposition! Then I looked over at the princes of New York in the pot next to them, "useless, why can't you be more like your brothers!" So much for proving that theory right.