Friday, February 19, 2016

Life's Treasures

In many ways, I like the way my life has turned out.  But there are, of course, some things I’d change.

I’ve been outdoors today—cut up a dogwood tree that had died.  Dogwoods make very good firewood.  That’s a fact I didn’t know before moving here.  I could not have recognized a dogwood tree without its foliage and flowers either, even though it has a very distinctive bark.

I can recognize many of the trees in my woods now, even in the winter, by the way they grow and by their bark.  I can also recognize the call of many birds I didn’t know before.

I love now to teach my granddaughters some of these things when they’re here.  The loud woodpecker or the cardinal saying, “Pretty, pretty, pretty.” The heart shaped leaves of the redbud tree.  I want them to grow up with an appreciation of the things around them.

A poem of William Wordworth’s has long been one of my favorites:
“The world is too much with us; late and soon
  Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.
  Little we see in Nature that is ours.
  We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon.”

I first came across this poem a half century ago, and it has always stayed with me.  I was reminded of it again today while working outside.

If I had my life to live over, I’d give less of my heart away.

Friday, February 5, 2016

Confessions of a Pacifist




In a recent dream I had one of my granddaughters got lost in a crowd.  She was walking right behind me and when I turned around she had disappeared.  

I began running back up the broad steps we were descending, searching for her in a mass of people.  I was frantic but finally spied her a short distance ahead and scrambled to get to her.  Just as I got to her I saw a man in front of me reaching out to grab her.  

The stranger put his hand on her as I caught up to him.  I pulled him away, put my hand on his shoulder and said quietly, ‘If you harm her, I will kill you’.

I woke up then and knew I had meant every word I had said. 

I was a little surprised at my ready willingness to kill.  I am not normally a combative person, but in that dream, and in my life, I know that some things are worth fighting--even killing or dying--for.  

Most things, however, are not.