American Tiger Lily

Growing up in California, I was taught that lilies were exotic flowers imported from far away. Any wild lilies in the area where I grew up were considered invasive and although no efforts were made at eradication, they were often treated as weeds and removed from pristine lawns and yards. After spending 25 years in Japan, I moved to Ohio and was pleasantly surprised to find bright orange wild lilies growing abundantly in many fields and roadside ditches. Eventually, I learned this species was native to North America and was widely known as the “Tiger Lilly”, thus the name of the native maiden in James Barrie’s now legendary stage play, Peter Pan.

There is also an Asian Tiger Lily that grows throughout much of Asia, especially in warmer climates. The Asian Tiger Lily often grows wild in many of the same areas as the American Tiger Lilly. The chief difference between them is the center of the American Tiger Lilly is green, while the center of the Asian Tiger Lilly is orange. Although I did not know it at the time this photograph was taken, this is actually an Asian Tiger Lilly. It was years after I took the photo that I learned the difference.

In Korea, there is an interesting legend about the tiger lily. According to the legend, a hermit living near a river found a wounded tiger. After removing the arrow from the tiger, the two became friends. As in many Asian legends, a wild hermit living in the hills is also a master of native magic. Through the hermit’s magic, the tiger became a tiger lily after it died. One day the hermit drowned in the river. The lilies that propagate so quickly along the river’s banks are said to be the tiger searching the river for his friend the hermit.

Many people find magic in ordinary life events. The birth of a child, the color of a sunrise, the blooming of a lily, are all often seen as beyond the pale of ordinary life. Many of us perceive something magical in ordinary moments that produce spontaneous happiness. Some of us spend our entire lives in pursuit of that sense of happiness, seeking it out in our relationships, in music, in art, in the act of creation, and sometimes in the act of destruction. There is a beauty in flames which draws many people and fills them with a sense of completion nothing else can provide. Sadly, our craving for happiness can lead us into self-destructive patterns of behavior such as addiction or arson.

I took this photo because at that moment, I felt a close connection to the rising sun, to the blooming lily, to the warm summer air, to the distant fog, and to the clear sky arching overhead. It was a good morning and eventually became a good day. Last year I designed a novelty shirt with this photo. This was my way of sharing my magical moment with the world at large.

Unfortunately, the American public did not receive the shirt well. It was eventually removed from Amazon listings and only recently went back online.

This is one thing that never ceases to baffle me. I don’t expect everyone to feel the way I feel, believe the things I believe, or respond to life in the way I respond. I understand we are all individuals. Nonetheless, many of us are gifted (or perhaps cursed) with an endless fascination for everything beautiful, colorful, and enlightening. We have a basic human craving for happiness. Each of us finds our happiness in different ways. The most happy people are those who can generate happiness from within their own internal worlds. They don’t need sunrises or tiger lilies or good relationships to feel at one with themselves and their world. The rest of us envy those people. In my old age, I am finding it easier and easier to be one of those people. It baffles me that so few people found a dramatic photo of a tiger lily silhouetted by the rising sun beautiful enough to wear and display.

I don’t expect everyone to be the same as I am, but it would sure be nice if a few more of them found a bit of happiness in my shirt designs.