The Garden
Reflection ThreeWhat is the greater sacrifice?
The time that we may never get back, or the life we fail to live?
In the same breath, I wonder, how does one go about eliminating actions founded in hatred & bigotry? If we liken the ideals that give rise to such actions to a simple weed, a gardener knows to remove its roots. And this must be done completely, lest it regenerate and grow back stronger, spreading and multiplying from the tiniest fragments.
The master gardener knows simply plucking or killing the plant, inevitably fails to work.
And what of the seeds spread by the breath of the wind?
If one is blessed to live to an old age, spending all of his days toiling in the field, when the weeds grow in the coming season, has the time been wasted? But what if seeds of fruit are planted along the way?
Of course, it’d be easier with more hands. With another generation picking up the mantle. Now the question becomes, how does one maintain the spirit of work remains the same?
The master gardener toils in the garden for years, holding true to the pledge to never use pesticides that kill. Yet what of the damage done to the soil when the next generation finds that it is a more effective method? She can only pray it does not affect the yields.
And if only a handful of planted seeds bear fruit, what then will happen to the fields?
Should they then give up the pursuit of the perfect garden, fruitful and abundant. Free of weeds, with trees providing shade from the heat of hatred. If the gardener died in the midst of her toils, with only a fraction of the vision realized, did she live a wasted life?
Does knowing they had a chance to taste one of the fruits change the answer? Knowing that the master gardener feasted upon one singular berry, the sweetest of which life had to offer. Would dying in this garden in hopes it could bear this fruit forever still be in vain?
It may be that even the master gardener will only see such a garden when their neighbors weed the same.
May 2026