A Source of Thorns With Benefits

Sometimes you find yourself in a prickly situation and it seems no matter which way you turn, the consequences will leave a mark.  It's kind of like finding yourself in the middle of a prickly pear thicket on some ranch in the back country of Texas, which is where the photo above was taken.  Some pear thickets can be head high and stretch for what seems like forever.

Anyway, back to the prickly situation -- no, I don't find myself in the middle of one right now, but I ran across this photo and that's what came to mind.  Such situations seem to occur any time there is interaction with people.  In time, feelings inevitably are hurt, or offense is taken over some innocuous remark that may have been misunderstood.  For some reason, those occasions sometimes have no positive solution -- they leave scars in a relationship.

When we see a patch of prickly pear, we see the thorns.  We know that contact with the prolific cactus will leave us digging the tiny, barbed thorns out of our tender flesh.  Each needle-like leaf is designed to quickly detach from the plant and embed itself deeply via the tiny hook on the end of each  small probe.  They work  their way inward until the inflamed flesh festers and tries to isolate them by forming a cyst or, surrounding them with pus.

The thing about prickly pear that we often forget is that they, like other cacti, are nature's reservoir of water in a desert environment.  Each of the succulent pads swells with water which is gathered over a large area by the widely spreading roots that lie just under the surface of the land.  They capture the precious droplets and store them within their own appendages.  Insects, rodents and even larger animals know they can always find life-sustaining moisture in the cacti -- they just have to avoid the thorns.  Ranchers have been known to use flame-throwers to burn the thorns off of cactus so cattle can eat them.  The small fruit which forms at the end of the pads was utilized by native Americans as a food source and even today is often harvested and made into jelly.

There is usually some good that comes out of those prickly situations we find ourselves in, just as there are benefits from the cactus.  When we face those times, we need to think about why they occurred and how they might better have been resolved.  Usually the issue is one of communication.

We humans, in spite of our prolific use of language, are lousy communicators.  That's because we each see the world a little bit differently.  We have our own unique perspective -- lens -- through which we see situations and we rarely truly understand another's viewpoint.  Much of the trouble in this world is a result of that very issue.  Misunderstanding due to differing world views.

I suppose the solution is to invest time in people with the purpose of learning more about their values, their perspectives and their history.  It will provide invaluable clues to common understanding and help to clarify areas of disagreement.  Only then will we be able to resolve those prickly situations effectively.  People are the precious reservoirs of our businesses and our country.  Instead of water, they store knowledge and insight.  Tapping into those storehouses without encountering the thorns is a source of strength and nourishment in what might appear to be a hopeless situation.  Invest in people.