At the start of a new day, it is easy to forget that everyone in the human family is, at birth, on the same side. Each wants to be held and fed. Everyone longs to be part of something greater. Love, family, and hope as essential to us all. Once satisfied, sleep quickly follows.
Somewhere along the line, things changed. While the wants and needs of each stayed the same, a premise began to take root in my thinking. I could only get what I need if someone, anyone, did not get her or his. There was never enough care, kindness, and love for everyone to be satisfied. Others were taking from me, so I was permissioned to take from others. One had to adopt a survival of the fittest attitude if one was going to get ahead.
Intuitive ideas are often hard to change, even with belief. Natural reminders continue to take me back to the centre of my heart’s greatest thirst and desire. With a lingering thank-you to the character Chauncey Gardiner in the satire film Being There, observations include the following.
Rain falls on the weeds as well as the flowers. There is no discrimination based on beauty or lack of, on usefulness or simple adornment, of contribution or consumption. Life offers its sustaining gift to all, simply because s/he is.
Left unattended, everything will coexist with each other. This should not be taken to mean that everything is fair. Rather, life will give each an equal opportunity to respond. It is with care and attention that good flourishes and the chaff is life is removed.
Even with the best of care, some plants do not make it. To anyone who tends life’s garden, my advice is “when down-and-outers get a break, cheer!” (James 1.9).
In so many ways, my life is like a garden where I am response as its gardener. In the Emirates, rains are rare, so make the most of things when they come. Summers are long, so be prepared. Live knowing that there are seasons of growth and change.
