Neighbors

Glinda writes:

On January 9 and 10, we had guests coming through Butterfly Hill Farm: 37-500 pound calves adventuring out into the world, and 37 calves on their way home. A gathering of neighbors went in search of them and brought them home the next day. Seeing and being neighbors bonding in a time of need was touching, the way we are meant to be.

The calves' owner is a neighbor whom we had not met. Of course, his first priority was bringing his calves home. Ours was too. But on the way through, he told Richard he would take care of any damage to our yard. The calves did leave footprints in the soft, wet soil. When we do damage, especially to a neighbor, we yearn to make it right. It is the right thing to do.

I believe that life's experiences are little lessons on the path. This experience gave me pause. Aren't we all neighbors on Earth? As huge consumers of the Planet's resources, the reach of our footprints, our impacts on the Earth, is far greater than any generation before and far greater than most of our global neighbors. As members of an affluent industrialized culture, we are often unthinkingly leaving our mark on the soil, water, air, climate, all beings in our acquisition of things. Our footprints have left some gaping wounds on the Earth, some even visible from space.

For almost 2 decades, I have tried to look mindfully at labels on things I have purchased. Where are you from? I offer a little prayer of gratitude and wish that all beings (known and unknown to me) are treated with love, dignity and respect. As a result, I purchase far less and am more content with what I have.

Can you even imagine the kind of world we would live in if we each took responsibility toward reducing and remediating the damage we may have created somewhere else? Wouldn't that be beautiful?

I suggest we plant daffodils in each and every hoof print of those beautiful calves. And I suggest in all those places where our damage in the world has been done that we plant daffodils or better yet, plants indigenous to those spaces. In the place of the damage, a garden would return and people would prosper. Is not that the legacy we are to create?