Dandelions

On a number of occasions, we’ve been asked, “Why Dandelions as part of your logo?”. 

There is a somewhat complicated answer to this simple question.  We chose the Dandelion as it seemed to perfectly parallel the paradoxical way that aging is viewed in our country.  As a culture, we fail to see the beauty in the Dandelion.  To us, it represents an unwanted pest in our lawn, a weed, so we poison it.  To a child however, the Dandelion is a thing of wonder and beauty in all of it’s stages, in particular the stage where the flower turns completely white and full of seeds.  Millions of children have shared the simple joy of blowing on the bountiful white seeds to watch the mini-parachutes take flight upon their breath, giving life to future generations of Dandelions.  Sadly, as these children grow older, they too are poisoned, poisoned by the mass media to believe that Dandelions are weeds, and that aging is something to be feared and avoided.

The four stages of the Dandelion’s life cycle are represented in our logo to remind us that there is beauty in all stages of our aging process, but none more beautiful, powerful and functional than that of the elder flower.  The mini-parachutes of the Dandelion taking flight can be analogized in our culture as the wisdom of the elder being transcended from one generation to the next, giving that generation the tools and the skills to successfully navigate their process.

The charge of our television program is much like that of our children’s breath – to spread the knowledge and the tools for all generations to learn from and to facilitate those who have entered into the later stages of their lives.  We aspire to become the breath upon which these seeds of wisdom take flight and germinate.