Valentines Day 2011 undoubtedly sparked the imagination of many lovers.
The following day, the unbounded imagination of 7th Circuit Court appellate justices Daniel A. Manion, Diane S. Sykes, John Daniel Tinder was revealed for all to see. That's the day, delivered via their ruling in Chapman Kelley v Chicago Park District, the judges unveiled their new concept: a seed with amazing properties.
That precedent-setting ruling essentially said that Kelley was not the "author" of his artwork the Chicago Wildflower Works. Instead, the trio of judges declared the "author" of the artwork to be a wildflower seed itself.
Anyone with an intimate knowledge about the Wildflower Works concept knows that Kelley purchased many thousands of dollars of wildflower seeds. He would be intrigued to no end and would be most anxious to encounter this new seed rolled out by the 7th Circuit.
This 7th Circuit creation has some truly magical attributes, the seed:
1. It has the brain to conceive and plan its own future.
2. It possesses a mouth and communicative skills able to convince many humans and fellow seeds to carry out its ideas.
3. It has access to funds that drive results.
4. It commands scientific knowledge able to design a community of plants that provide continuous flowering, solely using rainwater, utilizes no fertilizers, or insecticides, and yields a sequential growth pattern throughout the Midwest's three seasons.
5. It has the ability to inspire a small army of citizens, causing them to spend many hours as volunteers over a 20 year span, whose work caused flower blooms that delighted casual passersby of local and international origin, leading to much documented public praise.
6. It is able to lead and coordinate at a complex level to produce a work that everyone, including the Chicago Park District---excepting the 7th Circuit--has hailed as a successful work of art.
It seems that all of these talents would rather define a human author.
If seeds--there are far more seeds in the world than humans--truly have these humanoid abilities, we humans had better immigrate to another habitable planet. Perhaps now that the 7th circuit has brought forth this remarkable seed as author, it can also provide an escape to the beyond for us.
Should these justices and their law clerks be remanded to the third grade?