If You're Lost, You Can Look And You Will Find Me...

You go on to sites these days, and there's a common thread: brand yourself.

Why, you may ask? Simple, in the forest that is the internet, there are millions of trees. Each one in competition - one with the other - to reach up and out to touch the sky; to get the resources needed to survive and then thrive.

When you view the forest from afar, the tallest trees are the ones you notice first. On these tall trees may grow other plants. Perhaps epiphytes, plants the co-exist with their host trees. Maybe, a few parasitic plants too.

Thankfully, we are able to use search engines like Google to get the information we need about these different type of plants. We no longer need the expense of tertiary study when we have Dr Google PhD so readily available!

With the help of Wikipedia and other sources, we are able to describe our forest in more detail.

Most epiphytes are angiosperms, or flowering plants. These types of plants include many species of orchids, tillandsias, and bromeliads. Other epiphytes are mosses, ferns, liverworts, and their like. Common are these plants, as they are found in both the tropical and the temperate climes.

Then there are the parasitic plants, ones that derive some or all of their nutrients from other living plants. These sorts of plants have modified roots that enable them to penetrate the host plants and extract food and water directly. Parasitic plants, given the right environments, will completely swamp and kill off their host plants.

Many parasitic plants are also angiosperms. In New Zealand, a common one is a type of clematis we call Old Man's Beard; a noxious plant that cannot be effectively contained. Clematis have such beautiful flowers that people are keen to transplant these species into gardens and parks.

You need help with your personal branding? There is no need at the beginning to establish your own site, to become your own tree. Social media gives us all the same opportunity: to connect and build a following. From there, you are able to grow and flower and allow all to see the color of your blooms and the true nature of yourself.

You have a choice.

You may choose to be an epiphyte and select a host that will help you grow to your true potential, to piggy-back on someone else's generosity and foundation. Or, you may choose to be parasitic and feed off the returns of other people, perhaps in time smothering them until they yield and give up.

That choice is yours.

If you're lost, you can look and you will find me...

Ian Ballantine
Wellington, New Zealand
October 17, 2019.

Lyrics: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=time+after+time+lyrics

Playlist:

Oranges, how sweet are they at the top of the tree!
Mary's uncle's place at Te Atatu Peninsular, Auckland, New Zealand in October 2017.
Photographer: Ngatungane (Mary) Richard.