Planting seeds
How can we be the change we want to see in the world?
I’ve been discussing this idea of planting seeds with someone I’ve been cultivating a relationship with. This concept can be applied to all areas of our lives. In order to see a beautiful, bountiful garden, we need to plant those seeds and then take the time to care for it. That is how growth starts.
My heart has been hurting the past few weeks with all of the turmoil, frustration, pain that’s felt throughout this country. With the shutdown of normal life as we know it due to COVID-19 at the beginning of the year and then the recent news of police altercations and deaths of Black civilians and subsequent riots, everything is cascading pretty quickly. Not too long ago, we felt united in our concern for the overall safety of our nation, but it quickly grew to an us versus them mentality. Some nights I wake up, laying in bed reading news articles on the latest tragedies. I try my best to read from multiple sources on both sides. To make a non-biased judgment on what is right. But it can sometimes be muddled as my emotions get involved. No one wants to see the death of an innocent person. Something needs to change. Problem is, change doesn’t happen overnight. But America is awake. We’re paying attention. What do we do? We’re kicking and screaming with our First Amendment rights. That’s one method but are these riots and protests truly effective?
My belief? It starts at home. From the very beginning. We plant the seeds in our young ones. The future rests in the palms of their hands. We teach them that the most powerful weapons they have are their minds and their hearts. We tell them to educate themselves on the issue at hand by doing their research. And that means looking at a problem or situation from all sides to make a well-informed decision. It’s not enough to read an article from the Washington Post or to watch a segment on Fox News. You need to do both…and then some. And we need to have more open dialogue where an exchange of opinions and facts are done in a respectful way. We need to see all angles, so we get a complete picture. And lastly, we need to teach our children empathy and compassion for everyone and everything. We’ve been categorized and profiled for so long based on the color of our skin, our race and our beliefs. This is meant to keep us fragmented. Always at odds. But when it all boils down, we are the same at the very core. We all need the same basic things for survival. And our time is finite. We are here and then we are gone.
If we can come from a place of understanding, then we are open to changing for the better. I want to plant those seeds in my children now so that their children and so on will have a chance of having a just, less fearful and improved way of life. And one day they will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character - MLK.