Humanity – Page 2 – Gardens For Goldens

Choose Your Garden

You can create whatever man-made environment you want – just as you can build false societies.

But these artificial landscapes require strict restraints, constant oversight, and continuous, often heavy-handed, feeding to maintain control. Without it, they eventually return to their natural state – often in bullying or survival-of-the-fittest ways.

Natural gardens spring from what was always intended to be there.

True to their nature, they find paths of peaceful coexistence and mutual cooperation.

And they thrive.

Their success supports future generations of flora as well as fauna – the critters that depend on their good stewardship for food and shelter.

The natural garden is built on true foundations of sun, water, and earth.

A healthy society is built on foundations of mutual respect, tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
The choice is ours.
What kind of garden do you want to live in?

Vote.

Tend the Garden

Charlie came to us from the streets of China at age one. Just a puppy, really. He was adopted and returned months later for being an overly exuberant adolescent. With time and training, he would have grown into a well-behaved and loved family member instead of finding himself homeless again. (He is homeless no more.)

A garden that is not tended can easily fall back into disrepair.
All hard work and effort will be lost – swallowed up in nature’s challenge: survival of the fittest.

You have to cherish and care for the things you love.
You have to protect the things you value.
Not just dogs and gardens – but ideals and principles.

Dogs don’t raise themselves. They learn boundaries and how to live well with humans from us.

Gardens don’t tend themselves. Without attention, they return to their wild and lawless ways.

And our democratic values, freedoms and national treasures don’t defend themselves – they depend upon our vigilance to ensure their survival.

Apathy and inaction are the enemy. I don’t care which side of the aisle you are on – there are certain ideals and norms that must bind us if we are to succeed in this great experiment. And even as I write this, I wonder if it is still possible.

I attended the memorial service of my neighbor recently – the human father of a special dog named Rush. You may remember his story.

As I listened to the tales recounted, I learned that this man I knew only as a good neighbor was a fifth generation Californian, a former cowboy, a Horatio Alger story, a community pillar, and to my surprise – a staunch conservative. We would have had real differences of opinion in our politics – had we ever discussed them. But we did not. The things that united us were greater than those divides: concern for family and community, a belief that people should look out for each other, and – of course – our love of dogs. Common values. Common decency. Common bonds.

I know that our country has been tested over time. We have made many mistakes and suffered dark times. But we have endured and, hopefully, learned from our failings. From this, I find strength. I also know that this endurance did not come from standing on the sidelines, but from standing up for the things we revere: truth, decency, civility, and compromise.

A good man passed yesterday. A leader named McCain. Someone I frequently disagreed with, but someone who embodied our values and stood up for them. In fact, I found myself writing to thank him on numerous occasions when he dared to stand for those ideals.

The enemy is not without; it is within.
“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” ~ Abraham Lincoln

Tend the garden.

Teach and love the dog.

Guard the principles we share.

The Real Things Remain

I had a blog post all written for tonight. I deleted it. I was going to tell you about the rains that created lakes in the spring garden,

and then I woke to today’s headlines. And I wondered, what is the point of this silly blog in a world gone mad? Lately, the magnitude of our capacity as humans to do harm to one another seems boundless. And overwhelming.

I know that bad things happen daily to good people, animals, and to nature. Still, I try to find the light amid the darkness. I just wasn’t seeing it this morning.

I went to rescue very early because I have the privilege of helping to look after this beautiful girl.

It gives me plenty of quiet time to work in the garden as well.

I planted and weeded and listened to birds singing and dogs barking delighted to be outside and playing in mud puddles.

I marveled at the blossoming Lilac tree Ina rescued from near death…

and I remembered how blessed we are to live in this world that we too often devalue and debase.

I thought about how privileged we are to live in this imperfect country with all its potential for grace.

I remembered that I believe in rescued souls, and second chances, and the miracle of forgiveness and moving forward.

And when I held these tiny ones….

I remembered that is our obligation to appreciate our blessings, to share them with others, to keep trying to find the light – and to work hard at leaving the world a better place.

This blog won’t change the world. It won’t prevent bad things from happening. But it is my weekly reminder to find light in darkness…

That good things still happen…

And that there is still beauty in the world.

“Life may take everything out of my days, but the real things remain. You may destroy my castles, but I have the timbers to build ten thousand more.” ~ Muriel Strode A Soul’s Faring, 1921

This is What You Shall Do

I try to keep politics off these pages but, increasingly, I feel as if I live in an alternate reality.
The daily news confounds me.
Disavowing science and banning its words.
Ignoring clear and present dangers while creating divisions between us at home.
Setting our history back decades – maybe more.
Have we forever lost sight of who we are and the compass that guides us to common ground?

Words for our times from some time ago:

“Other states indicate themselves in their deputies … but the genius of the United States is not best or most in its executives or legislatures, nor in its ambassadors or authors or colleges or churches or parlors, nor even in its newspapers or inventors … but always most in the common people. Their manners, speech, dress, friendship…their good temper and open handedness—the terrible significance of their elections—the President’s taking off his hat to them, not they to him…

This is what you shall do;
Love the earth and sun and the animals,

despise riches, give alms to every one that asks,
stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others,
hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people,
take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men,
go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families,

read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life,
re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul,
and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.”

― Walt Whitman, Preface to Leaves of Grass

To Rule A Garden…Or More

“Anybody who wants to rule the world should try to rule a garden first.” ~ Author Unknown

I found this unattributed quote and it struck me as true. Nothing humbles like a garden – a tiny microcosm of the world where distinct forces work best in harmony, but are sometimes pushed into doing battle for survival and the chance to ensure future generations.

I’m not really sure that anyone ever rules the garden; to assume so would tempt Mother Nature’s scorn. But to tame and transform a garden calls upon many of the same qualities required of great leaders.

1. Collaboration
A successful garden requires a close union with nature. To be truly connected to the earth demands a genuine interest and care for the welfare of all who live there: the flowers and trees, the birds, bees, butterflies, and tiny toads. Each has a role in the lasting success of the garden. Learn to live and work together.

2. Vision
A gardener must be practical and grounded – making the best of what they have been dealt in wind, water, temperature, and soil. But a gardener also keeps one boot firmly planted in the future – looking seasons ahead in decisions about where to plant sun and shade, laying a good foundation with well-nourished soil, and considering the needs of all for space, habitat, and life essentials.

3. Observant
Mother Nature will not be controlled. But by studying with patience and watchfulness, she will share her lessons. A gardener earns her respect by being gracious and persuasive, but never controlling.

4. Empathy and Tolerance
We share our gardens with countless creatures – each simply going about the business of living their lives, feeding their families, and ensuring their survival.

This is their home, too. Share with empathy, compassion, and an appreciation for their unique contributions to the garden.

5. Innovative
A gardener’s failures are many. Learn to accept them with grace. To succeed means to be a perpetual student, tester, and inventor. What you can’t renew: transform. For the things you can’t (or shouldn’t) change: learn to adapt.

6. Ethical
We have but one earth. Treat it with care. Make sustainable choices and live by the motto: do no harm. The passerby in awe of that oversized, out-of-season flower does not know – but the earth does and carries any lie.

7. Passionate
A garden is built of passion and purpose reflecting the heart of the gardener who is blessed to work and walk among its inhabitants.