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Aphercotropism‍
Do we embrace an obstacle, or try to break it apart? Consider the delicate growing tip of a tree root, which might go either way. A dusty old nineteenth century word describes the process of growing away from, or around, a barrier. Aphercotropism is a mouthful of a word. A root feels its way through the soil, part of a collective of roots creating a stable foundation for the trunk, the branches, the leafy canopy. Root encounters rock, solid, immobile, and alters its course. Around rock, hugging rock. But wait! Here is a crack in the rock, and root wiggles a wedge into the crack like an intrepid explorer, slowly growing, gently pushing, slightly expanding, year after year, until it exerts such a force of pressure that rock breaks apart. We might surmise that rock solid obstacles are made to be broken apart. We might learn, from the root of a tree, the lesson of patience. ~K