Buried in the Kernels of Time

Among the great mechanical wonder of the ethanol plant with its towering, glistening steel distillers, mildly dated technology, familiar smell of urea, and meticulous safety gears lay a simple, neglected aspect. Through all the screens depicting distiller temperature and water pressure, pipettes filled with dubious liquids, and massive, bickering hammer mills, sat a simple, humble grain: corn. Modern, stylish, and elegant, corn is the founder of modern society; its great stalks hold up the world much like Atlas did (before he shrugged). So great is the power of this starch that it can be used to distinguish between Americans and Europeans just by its presence in the blood. However, corn is an ancient grain, older than the tiled farmlands, yet it remains forgotten. Within the plant, corn took on various guises from a frothy, yellow soup, finely ground powder, and 99% pure alcohol, but corn is corn no matter what form it takes. It rides in semis, trains, and tractors. It resides in plastic, meat, and virtually all processed foods. A humble grass, corn is quickly neglected, swept away, and found strewn across roads.

Not surprisingly, corn resurfaced from iron grates later on in the day when we visited an award-winning cattle operation known for its sustainable practices. Corn and all its by-products from corn syrup, starch, and a host of other products can be extracted with many more derivatives to come. Fed to livestock, brewed into car beer, and mixed into foods, corn is the omnipresent grain and one of few staples in the American diet. While observing corn being delivered to the ethanol plant, a single grain fell astray from the trucks that were dumping bushels upon bushels of the grain. It bounced along, eventually rolling to a stop, only to be lost among the sea of its brethren, then later pushed aside to waste away. So much clout existed in that single corn kernel only for it to atrophy in a corner! There it lay alone in simple solitude.

History glorifies the “greats” ranging from Alexanders to Elizabeths yet rarely focuses on the smaller but still valuable facets. Whether it be the peasants who supported the lavish nobility to atrophying trinkets locked away in some drawer in a museum, articles and actions too mundane and typical are quickly and silently muffled in the mire of magnificent majesties.  That single kernel teetering along by itself is such a case. Greater than any single person, that measly grain and its brethren have completely altered diets of billions of denizens spanning from pigs to humans and most everything in-between. Yet, there lay one of the greatest forces of civilization helplessly hobbling along, subject to whims and desires outside its clout. However, the kernel seemed apathetic towards it all as it wobbled aimlessly. Sullen, still, silent sat the corn and so it shall remain a forgotten but simplistic existence.