..." There is a certain balance of letting nature provide what it may"...

A dear friend of mine wrote this in response to a post earlier this month concerning Apathy. I felt moved to share this with other volunteers that are serving and may need a gentle reminder from time to time or even for applicants that may read this prior to starting your Peace Corps experience. :


"Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there and I am prepared to expect wonders."...since you are reading Thoreau, I think.

You have already identified the seed. The dilemma I see is that you are not familiar w/ the species of plants you are harvesting. Some, my dear, will sprout like bean vines at the first sign of spring waters. Others will require diligent tending to the soil, as well as experience fighting off the parasitic setbacks that are native to the region. The wise gardener recognizes that there is a certain measure of tending, and then there is a certain balance of letting nature provide what it may, and that a whole crop may not be harvested, despite the toils of labor and love.

Finally, there are seeds that will not reach their full potential in life until the cultivator is lonnng and gone. The roots of the aspens, the wisdom of the old oak, the reverence of the redwoods, all evidence of that reality. The bonsai takes careful pruning before it is considered a work of art. But the first cut decides the next cut, and the next cut, and the next. Be the first cut where you can. Be the center ring of a 9000 Year old Norway spruce where you can.

You are blocking your vision with anticipation of perfectly timed corn rows, when in fact you have the collaboration of seeds that haven't shown you their colors. The fruits might not ripen until 20 years down the road, when one recollection of one spirit that said one thing just right, pruned just the right limb, provides the life-giving profundity that you assumed to be lost in the limited ideas of what you envisioned as "getting thru" or not. It might not be the grammar limb, or the math limb, or anything taught in books limb..those might likely be of no use...compared to the one day that some piece of you became some memory for them. And that they needed nothing more".  
 - MeadowO.

                                                         

                                                  ~Some people are just good for the soul~