`📅 Thought for today:

‘The biggest problems were to do with… well, to get that successful when you’re so young, it attracts hangers-on, parasites, people who want to feed off you.’

— Mike Oldfield

#thoughtfortoday #symbiosis #symbiotic #parasite #parasitic #tubularbells

In a classroom in secondary school in a Manchester suburb, I learned about the difference between a symbiotic relationship in the natural world, and a parasitic one.

Symbiosis, from Greek, meaning “living together”.

In a symbiotic relationship, two organisms live together in a relationship that is beneficial to both parties, often sharing resources, each with a vested interest in the survival of the other.

In a parasitic relationship, one organism benefits at the expense of the other. The parasite gets what it needs from the host, and ensures its own survival. The outcome for the host is often mortal decline.

The host is often fooled into believing the relationship is mutually beneficial, when in fact it is not.

This all took place at the very time Mike Oldfield released Tubular Bells, an album I would buy on release and then listen to continuously for two weeks, much to my parent’s annoyance.

I couldn’t say which public relationship made me think of this today.