The Miracles You Missed This Morning

Art Parkerson

Something truly amazing happened this morning. The only proper word for it is “miracle.” But you missed it because it happens every single day.
You drove to work.

You think it’s no big deal, but you’re wrong. Consider all the things that had to go right. 

1. There had to be a road. How did that get there? A deer trail became a logging path became a country road. Every street is three miracles in one: placement, material construction and your easy access. We take them all for granted.

2. There had to be a vehicle. Can we all take a moment and give thanks for the internal combustion engine? What a glorious thing! There must be thousands of miracles all wrapped up into one glorious machine of progress. Can you see? We take the ancient debris of death out of the ground and turn it into rocket fuel! Thousands of explosions are going off—literal explosions—right in front of you! Your engine is orchestrated destruction, both colossal and delicate. And what about all the other things wrapped around this engine? Brakes, lights, air-conditioned seats, CarPlay! You don’t simply drive, you travel in luxury! What Pharaoh could have dreamed of a chariot like a Sentra?

3. You had to see. The smartest people on the planet have spent many decades and tons of money to develop cameras and sensors that can come close to performing as well as the two eyes in your head. How many cameras does your car have, just for lane assist? The latest generation Waymo uses 13 cameras … and radar … and LiDAR. Amazing right? How much more amazing that your eyes worked from the day you were born (okay, maybe that first few days things were fuzzy).

4. You had to process all that data. We all understand that processing takes time. And the more data there is, the longer the processing takes. But your brain works without effort in real time. Your brain takes a stream of stereo images and instantly builds a detailed and complex 3D map. Then it updates that map and determines what to pay attention to. (That guy is drifting into my lane.) This morning your brain made billions of calculations and decisions. Call it what it is: a miracle!

5. Everyone else around you did the same thing as you. If you or someone you love has ever been in a serious car accident, then you know we should not assume safety. It’s a miracle all these other cars zooming around, faster than any animal was designed to move, don’t collide more often. If you made it to work, you should be grateful.

When things go right so often, so easily, so effortlessly … we take those things for granted. This is only natural. We can’t really help it. It’s what we do. Miracles happen and we don’t see them. But there are two ways of “taking things for granted.” One is to fail to appreciate them. The other—the deadly one—is to assume they’ll happen.

That’s why we need mirrors. All of the miracles you breezed past this morning would have worked the same, but they would have resulted in catastrophe if it weren’t for your side and rear-view mirrors.

Everybody has blind spots. Your brain is wired to tell you—assure you, promise you, guarantee you—that you see and understand the whole picture. But it’s just not true. You have to check your mirrors and you have to do it all the time.

You do a job and you’re good at it. Everybody can drive a car to work, and that’s a miracle, but the job you do? Not many people can do that. It’s a lot harder to root a house of cuttings or grow a crop of pansies than it is to drive a car. You perform greater miracles. You’re a rare and precious thing. You are amazing!

But you still have blind spots.

You need to check your mirrors. You don’t see reality. That’s hard to believe, but it’s true for all of us. There’s no shame in admitting you have blind spots, but neither is it an excuse. Make sure you have mirrors. Make sure they’re positioned correctly. Make sure you check them regularly.

What mirrors am I talking about? Well, reading GrowerTalks and Green Profit is a good start. Attending Cultivate, touring other operations, going to church, reading business books, taking dance lessons with your lover (that might show you what kind of leader you really are). Listen to your political enemy for a few minutes without judgment. You might not want to merge into the left lane, but it’s good to understand what’s going on over there!

Your main focus must remain on the road ahead. That goes without saying, doesn’t it? The mirrors aren’t there to distract you. Mirrors are meant to be checked. Glance, don’t stare. The crazy thing about everyday miracles—like driving to work or doing your job—is that they function just fine when unappreciated, but fall apart when we blindly trust them. Believe in miracles, but never forget to check your mirrors!  

Consider all the things that had to go right. GT

Art Parkerson works at Lancaster Farms, a wholesale nursery in Suffolk, Virginia. He’s also the creative director of PLANTPOP, a horticultural cinema studio that makes documentary films about people and plants. To say hello, write to art@lancasterfarms.com.