The Victorian Language of Flowers was used for decades to relay feelings that people had a hard time expressing or were too embarrassed to share. Each flower has its own meaning, and each color further explains the emotions they arise. The flower we will be looking at today is the Foxglove. This flower has tall stalks with bell-shaped blooms towards the end. They typically bloom in a range of colors, including pink, purple, white, and yellow. It’s a legend that the blooms of these flowers served as little hats for fairies and that the fairies had a deep connection with the flowers. In the Victorian Language of Flowers, the foxglove symbolizes deception, insincerity, mystery, occupation, stateliness, and more.
Being that The Language of Flowers is largely a secret love language from the Victorian era, it is not often that you see flowers with negative connotations. Even so, there will always be some happy meaning to the word that doesn’t quite fit otherwise. Foxglove is no exception to this.
I feel like now more than ever, we see deception and insincerity around every turn. Whether it be the presence of social media that promotes these insane standards or just a news release of whatever is the most recent scandal revealed. People have always gossiped and spoken behind each other’s backs, but now it just feels worse. I don’t know if maybe it’s just harder to escape it, but it feels intense.
In the past, when I saw drama or my friends came to tell me all about the latest news, I was usually working on my school work, and oftentimes that became my savior. I would hear one of my friends come up to me, talking about the latest guy and how, apparently, all of our friends were turning on each other. The thing that saved me from being burned in that fire was my studies.
I fear that the beauty of this escape simply does not work the same in college. Now, if I throw myself in my studies to stay out of trouble, I burn out faster than a candlestick in a hurricane. The other option is to be left to sink in a sea of “he said she said,” where there is no escape in sight. I’m trying to learn the balance a bit better now, but it’s hard to decompress when everyone has a piece to say about every individual around.
The worst thing is actively watching those speaking behind others’ backs, faking it in front of them. The deceit drives me insane. I would rather that if someone didn’t like me, they simply ignore me, or honestly give me a stink eye or whatever they feel is necessary, just don’t be insincere. I am trying to be very genuine myself. After all, I couldn’t lie to a brick wall, so why even spend the effort?
I just wish that people would be genuine and give each other a chance regardless of race, political standing, gender, sexual orientation, or anything else. At the end of the day, it takes more effort to uphold a lie, so why hide it in the first place?
