Have you ever thought about moss? Yeah, me neither, until I watched the movie “Elsewhere” on Amazon Prime (good movie, check it out if you haven’t seen it).
One of the main characters is a writer and is writing her second book about moss. In a scene in a diner, she explains her fascination with moss. It goes a little like this:
Moss has been around longer than any other land plant and has figured out how to be here on this earth. Moss has learned how to live within its means. It lives in tiny layers of rocks and fallen trees where other dominant plants can’t live. And in these crevices, moss thrives. Instead of colonizing nature with grandeur and size (like humans do), moss has gracefully accepted that they are bad competitors in this way. Moss challenges the idea that competition is the best way to survive.
How can this be true? Well, moss has been around for 350 million years. Moss is humble, moss is persistent, moss has found a way to thrive. And moss is only about an inch tall.
Pretty incredible, right? So naturally, as I hiked through a trail in Jasper, TN, I couldn’t help but notice how it was COVERED in moss. While leaves from the trees had long since fallen and dried up, moss was THRIVING in this forest. It was lush and green and beautiful. Moss is living its radical life.
How can you be more like moss?