Mike Powell

When the background in a photo is cluttered, it is often hard to see the main subject, but that was not the case with this beautiful female Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly (Erythemis simplicicollis) that I photographed on Tuesday at Huntley Meadows Park, a local wetlands. I love the brilliant green of the this dragonfly’s thorax and the blackish banding on its abdomen (the “tail”).

You can’t really see it from this angle, but both female and male Eastern Pondhawks have green faces.  This is particularly important for mature males, because it helps to easily distinguish them from males of other species that have a similar bluish coloration on their bodies.

There is something soothing and cooling about this photo, probably because of the sea of green vegetation that surrounds the dragonfly. I can’t help but think of Kermit the Frog singing one of his iconic songs, “It’s not easy being green.” Initially Kermit laments the fact that he is green and blends in with so many ordinary things. Eventually, though, he comes to accept himself as he is, rather than wishing he were different, realizing the beauty of his greenness.

Without getting all preachy, I think there is a lesson there for all of us. Someone famously said that “Comparison is the thief of joy” and we can end up feeling really bad  when we compare ourselves with the curated versions of people we see on social media. Wouldn’t it be better if we could all recognize that we are all beautiful in our own unique ways? As I have repeatedly written on this blog, I believe that beauty is everywhere if we can slow down enough to see it,

On the off chance that you are not familiar with the lyrics of “It’s not easy being green,” I have included them below, as found on theteachersguide.com.

“It’s not that easy being green;
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves.
When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold…
or something much more colorful like that.

It’s not easy being green.
It seems you blend in with so many other ord’nary things.
And people tend to pass you over ’cause you’re
not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water
or stars in the sky.

But green’s the color of Spring.
And green can be cool and friendly-like.
And green can be big like an ocean, or important like a mountain,
or tall like a tree.

When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why?
Wonder, I am green and it’ll do fine, it’s beautiful!
And I think it’s what I want to be.”

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.