by  Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Author’s program note. This story started, for me at least, about 3 months ago when my helper Aime Joseph and I were at the Shaw’s Market in Porter Square, Cambridge. I almost always visit their floral department while I’m there, since flowers for me are as necessary as food; not luxuries, but essentials, especially during the long, dour days that characterize a Bay State winter.

I knew my options like the back of my hand… especially the roses which these days come in a far wider array of colors than were available when I was growing up. But roses, breathtaking when you make your selection in the store, fade quickly when taken home despite the detailed suggestions for cutting the stem, adding plant food, and changing the water. The rose dazzles, captivates… but too soon dies… at the last a source of dismay.

I needed something else… something different… something to entice… and last… but what?

Then there they were… serenely confident…. an explosion of color… something new, at least for me; they may have been there before but today my eye perceived them rather than overlooked… and while I didn’t know it then these blooms had already begun their insidious maneuvers to seize not merely my eye… but in very short order… my heart.

So did the Lily of the Incas and I commence our relationship… like the person you loved from first glance and later wondered how you ever lived without. Yes, these flowers have such a power and I welcomed them without cavil for I needed their gifts… especially their long-lasting presence, a presence (it pains me to recall) I once doubted.

Each morning, not yet a true believer, still uncertain, skeptical, anxious I ran to my beloved… to see, perhaps to mourn their passing, only to be rebuked by the lilies not just with their beauty but their tenacity and commitment.  For such a love one searches for a lifetime. I had found mine in the grocery store.

The Incas and their lily.

Like many flowers the lilies of the Incas have several different names. They are called Peruvian lilies; they are also known as parrot lilies. And like all plants they also bear a sonorous scientific sobriquet, alstroemeria, named by Carolus Linnaeus for his close friend Swedish baron Clas Alstromer (1736-1794). But no name suits them so well or do they cherish as much as Lily of the Incas.

Atahaulpa… Pizarro… destiny… and the flower that remembers.

This plant and its explosion of colors calls us sharply back to the greatest tragedy of the Inca nation; its subversion and destruction by a handful of rapacious soldiers under the command of a destructive genius, Francisco Pizarro (1471-1541). He was born poor, illegitimate and suffered for it in every way. Rage, anger, a need to prove himself to himself and others fueled his ambition. He had nothing to lose and so learned the benefits of unbridled audacity. Such a man, shrewd, inventive, always bold was dangerous… as the Inca emperor Atahualpa — and his entire nation — soon learned.

For both sides their encounter at Cajamarca in 1532 was epochal, for there the tiny Spanish force of just 180 men and 37 horses, masters of stratagem, courage, lies and trickery captured the Sapa Inca (“unique Inca”) and so in an instant made Spain the richest and most important nation on earth… and every Spaniard in the piratical expedition richer than Croesus. This is how it happened…

Pizarro’s force was as nothing against the might of the Incas… but Pizarro would do anything to conquer… and here he had the advantage against the uncomprehending Incas. And so, by treachery Atahualpa fell into his hands. To free himself, or at the very least to preserve his life, he offered to fill a room about 22 feet long and 17 feet wide up to a height of 8 feet once with gold and twice with silver within 2 months.

With this offer Atahualpa enriched the Spaniards and signed the death warrant of himself and all his people… for once apprized of the riches of the Incas, the Spaniards had absolutely no intention of doing anything but extracting more and more. And so was Atahualpa strangled… for he had not merely outlived his usefulness but (now understanding the Spaniards better) understood what must be done to eradicate them. That made him dangerous …. and his brutal end inevitable. The date was July 26, 1533….

And here legend steps in…

For within just days, on the very spot where the last Sapa Inca, the hapless Atahualpa died, his clothes and part of his body incinerated, a flower never seen before began to grow, strengthened by the blood of Atahualpa, soon a vision of loveliness. Of course the Spaniards, who had everything else, wanted this, too. But they could not pluck it… or uproot it. It was tenacious, impervious to whatever they did… but it yielded to an Inca maiden of the royal line. To the astonishment of all, this princess succeeded where the avarice and connivance of the Spaniards failed. The legend states that Pizarro himself tried to pick the flower, but failed. “This,” he said, “is a lily of the Incas.” And so it was, and so it has remained.

The Spanish empire, all of Nueva Espana, is long gone now, forgotten. But the lily of the Incas has flourished. Many hybrids and about 190 cultivars have been developed, with different markings and colors, ranging from white, golden yellow and orange to apricot, pink, red, purple and lavender. The most popular and showy hybrids commonly grown today result from crosses between species from Chile (winter-growing) with species from Brazil (summer-growing). This strategy has resulted in plants that are evergreen and flower for most of the year.

El condor pasa.

Over this exuberance of never-ending beauty flies the majestic condor, the great eyes of the Incas. Peruvian composer Daniel Alomia Robles wrote their anthem in 1913, inspired by Andean folk tunes. Go now to any search engine and find the version you like best. My personal favorite is by Wayna Picchu, a Latin folk band from Peru. Simon and Garfunckel’s version (1970) made the song famous and makes the words plain: “A man gets tied up to the ground. He gives the earth its saddest sound. Its saddest sound.”  To rise, strew your hard path with lilies of the Incas… and look up in wonder whenever the condor passes. The unyielding flowers are for beauty… the condor shows you deliverance… freedom… joy. Look up now… he is passing somewhere near you and beckons… Perhaps this time you will respond… and soar.

About the Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Services include home business training, affiliate marketing training, earn-at-home programs, traffic tools, advertising, webcasting, hosting, design, WordPress Blogs and more. Find out why Worldprofit is considered the # 1 online Home Business Training program by getting a free Associate Membership today at http://www.worldprofit.com

By Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Author’s program note. The first thing scientists engaged in seeking life on other planets look for is whether there is water there. For without it they know there can be no life… and no species like ours. Water, you see, is the defining element, the sine qua non without which life is not merely improbable… but impossible.

Thus for the incidental music to today’s article, I give you the mastery of that aquatic choreographer and tongue-in-cheek provocateur Busby Berkeley (1895-1976), imp, troublemaker, artiste, American original , and — above all — genius. In 1933 he put his mind of high originality to work crafting for the film “Footlight Parade” a complex geometric water ballet to the tune of “By a Waterfall,” music by Sammy Fain, lyrics by Irving Kahal.

It was designed to mesmerize, titillate, enthrall, entrance… it was cheeky, scandalous… just plain fun for those who enjoyed the beach and its unending possibilities for naughtiness — and an innocence which is now long gone from the Great Republic.

To create this undoubted masterpiece, which had “made in America” stamped all over it, the exigent Berkeley, never one to economize, demanded a 40 x 80 foot swimming pool that filled an entire sound stage. Its walls and floor were glass, and before shooting started 100 chorus girls took two weeks to practice their exacting routines in it. The actual filming lasted six days and required 20,000 gallons of water per minute to be pumped across the set.

Busby’s genius and his innovative use of not just comely young maidens but of cameras did the rest. So instead of filming numbers from set angles, like other, lesser men, he instead set his cameras into motion on custom built booms and monorails and as necessary, even cutting through the studio roof to get the right shot…for to get his great vision on film for eternity was ever his objective.

And so stars Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler found themselves “By a waterfall”. “Just a winding stream where I can drift and dream….” We have all had this experience, transformed into poetry if we were there with our beloved… It is this scenario that is at growing risk worldwide as we learn from two sobering reports just released on the subject of the future of water.

Too little water here…. too much water there.

March 22, 2012 US intelligence agencies reported that droughts, floods and a lack of fresh water may cause significant global instability and conflict in the decades dead ahead. The report makes clear that developing countries, already severely challenged, will have to scramble to meet demand from exploding populations while dealing with the effects of climate changes.

This report, reflecting the joint judgement of federal intelligence agencies, concludes that in the next decade the risk of water shortages and related issues is minimal, although they assert there will be discernible tensions between affected states thereby destabilizing national and global food markets. This phase of the matter offers important issues and challenges but not chaos. ..

…  that, they conclude, begins beyond 2022. Then it begins with a vengeance. Then water becomes a weapon of war, a tool of terrorism and a vehicle for the utmost dislocation, despair, and dismay. Amidst such well founded deductions heralding Armageddon, we are as far as possible from Powell and Keeler at their enchanting waterfall, particularly in South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa where the crisis has already commenced, with far, far worse foreseeable and on its way.

The report is based on a classified National Intelligence Estimate on water security which was requested by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and was concluded in the fall of 2011. Its stark conclusion: floods, scarce and poor quality water, worsened by poverty, poor leadership, and weak governments will contribute to acute instability; this in turn could lead to the failure of numerous states with massive possibilities for mischief by aggressive regimes like China and by terrorists of every kind; people adept at promising reforms they cannot deliver but which prove fertile in the minds of people who have nothing but who see every day what we in the West have… and which they want for themselves, whatever it takes to get it. Thus does the bitter brew of this witches’ cauldron heat to a boil… its toxic ingredients instability and state failure, exacerbated regional tensions, and with such distractions, the report concludes, that may prevent them from working with the Unites States and our Allies on important policy objectives, thereby further imperiling the tenuous lives of millions, each one subject to events they do not control, but which most assuredly control them.

World Water Day, March 22, 2012

At this year’s WWD event, Secretary Clinton unveiled a new US Water Partnership that aims to share American water management expertise with the rest of the world, calling the findings of the report disturbing, sobering, a call to action before no action beyond prayer will matter. Thus, the conclusion of this timely report:

“We judge that as water shortages become more acute beyond the next 10 years, water in shared basins will increasingly be used as leverage; the use of water as a weapon or to further terrorist objectives.”

But water will wend its terrible way with us in other grave matters, too…

4 million to be at flood risk, study says.

Whilst researchers and policy makers contemplate the serious matters above, others of their ilk have been at work on another aspect of the problem, this time expected flooding from rising seas fueled by global warming. Their blunt findings were published March 15, 2012 in the peer-reviewed journal “Environmental Research Letter.” This report, in the form of two scientific articles, makes alarming reading, asserting as it does projected sea level rise by the year 2100. Nearly 4 million people across the United States, from Los Angeles to much of the East Coast are in the danger zone.

The cities that have the most people living within three feet of high tide — the projected sea level rise by 2100 — are in Florida, Louisiana, and New York.  Boston, Norfolk, Virginia, Charleston, South Carolina, and the capital of the Great Republic itself, Washington, D.C. will be seriously affected with catastrophic results for property and lives.

What can we do, or are we, too, simply at  the mercy of events?

I believe that God helps those who help themselves… and what we can do here is plain. We must keep the feet of our leaders to the fire, reminding them of the necessity to focus on recognizing and solving these problems. The younger you are the more you must do so, understanding as soon as possible that you have power, if only you will use it.

And if each of us will claim our infinitesimal share of these monumental problems and remain dedicated to their solution, we will have won the right to these words:

“By a waterfall I’m calling you. We can share it all beneath a ceiling of blue. We’ll spend a heavenly day Here where the whispering waters play.”

Go now to any searc

About the Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Services include home business training, affiliate marketing training, earn-at-home programs, traffic tools, advertising, webcasting, hosting, design, WordPress Blogs and more. Find out why Worldprofit is considered the # 1 online Home Business Training program by getting a free Associate Membership today at http://www.Worldprofit.com

h engine and play this tune… after all, it’s your future they’re singing about.