Beautiful GIFT to Change the World
The word change is in the news a lot these days – usually referring to climate change, but often it is used in reference to change that we need to make to combat what has begun to happen to our world. Repeatedly seeing phrases such as “Live the Change” or “Change the World” leads me to ask myself what I am doing to positively impact (and change) the world so that it remains a habitable planet for future generations.
The fact that 2008 is the year we elect a new president makes it easy for us to voice our opinions of who we believe can best lead us into the future as the climate of the world continues to change. Who can we trust to ensure that necessary legislation is enacted so that government and major corporations are held accountable for their contribution in combating the existing problem? We can allow ourselves to be discouraged and turned off by politics or we can do our duty, go to the polls, and vote for who we believe will make the best decisions.
If the people we vote for are not elected, do we throw in the towel? Do we cop out or do what we can as individuals to bring about positive change? Personally, I refuse to feel powerless and at the mercy of decisions made by politicians. I know that we can do seemingly small things that can cumulatively have a big impact.
We read environmental tips that begin with “If every American…” did whatever we could save so many tons of CO2 emissions from going into the atmosphere or so many tons of trash from going into the landfills or ending up in the oceans. Yet we know there are many Americans who choose to do nothing.
We see people dump car ashtrays on the road or toss fast food garbage out their windows. Are these people going to take the time to sort their trash for recycling or spend a little more to buy organic foods? Probably not. Will these people pay more for compact fluorescent light bulbs or environmentally friendly cleaning products? It is doubtful. Just because we co-exist with apathetic types does not mean our efforts will be cancelled out. We can make a difference. We can change the world. We can do things daily that can bring about change in the course of a few months.
One idea I have that could bring about positive change is what I call “Beautiful GIFT” - GIFT being an acronym for Gardens Impacting the Future Today. In a nutshell, it is an intergenerational gardening project. A young person partners with a person from an older generation, and together they plant a garden. It may sound pretty simple, maybe even boring to some folks who are not easily entertained. But I know, having already done this myself (as both the young person and the older person), that it can bring about profound change.
As a child I gardened with both my father and my grandmother. My husband also has fond memories of gardening with his grandfather and learning from his many years of gardening experience. In doing so we learned to appreciate nature. I remember being excited when seed catalogs started coming in the mail. Later in the spring I enjoyed trips to Kelly Seed Company to buy our seeds and to various gardening centers to purchase seedlings. I learned to love dirt. A child can enjoy water in the summer, not just in a pool, but coming out of a hose or a sprinkler.
As an adult I loved seeing my children’s excitement as they watched the seeds they planted germinate and grow. We all took pleasure in eating the produce we grew and the bouquets we picked of whatever flowers happened to be blooming at the time. My husband and I enjoy looking at photos of them in our garden and seeing how both the kids and the garden have grown over the years. The photos of them in my late father’s and my late uncle’s gardens are priceless.
Not all young people have parents or grandparents who garden. Conversely, not all adults have young people to help them with their gardens, so they end up not planting or maintaining them. My plan would encourage a partnering of interested individuals. Schools, 4-H Clubs, Scouts, and other organizations could help encourage kids. Civic, service and retirement clubs, churches, nursing homes, Big Brother and Big Sister organizations could help with pairing adults to work with kids. Interested adults would just need a spot with enough dirt, sunshine, and accessible water.
Some people may have difficulty connecting with someone from another generation, perhaps due to a recent relocation, because distance or garden proximity makes it difficult, or due to illness or a recent loss they prefer to garden in solitude. I know that planting a healing garden can help individuals regain their footing and their outlook on life, even if they need a season of gardening alone. They may still enjoy journaling about their gardening experiences and then later sharing how it has helped enriched their lives or helped them heal.
In my plan gardens would have to be organic – no harmful pesticides and only environmentally safe or natural fertilizers allowed. Compost, gardeners’ gold, would be encouraged, as would safe harvesting of rainwater. As often as possible, gardeners would photograph and journal the progress of their gardens.
At the end of the growing season both gardeners would write a brief account of their experience. If the young person is too young to write, they could dictate their story to the adult. In the fall, after the gardens have started to fade, participating communities could hold exhibits with the photographs, stories, bouquets & examples of the produce at their local park district or municipal building, a school or a church. The stories would be submitted and the entries would be eligible for possible publication in an annual “Beautiful GIFT” book. Research for Alzheimer’s and autism, afflictions of the elderly and the young, would receive funding from profits from sales of the book.
If you haven’t figured out how the world would be changed by this idea, perhaps you need to think about how the world has changed in the past couple of generations since people have gotten away from good old-fashioned gardening. Kids stay inside more, watch TV, and play video games. Obesity is on the rise, along with the diseases associated with it. The term nature deficit disorder has been coined to refer to the dilemma of nature-deprived kids. Not to mention, for whatever reasons, young people and adults are spending increasingly less time together. Drug use and crime has skyrocketed in recent decades as adult involvement with kids has decreased.
Bonds will be formed and memories made that will last a lifetime. Research will get us closer to finding cures to diseases that impact our elderly and our young. Modeling environmental stewardship through the vehicle of a garden will have a snowball effect that will carry into future generations. If you or a person you know is interested, visit www.beautifulgift.org or mail inquiries to Beautiful GIFT P.O Box 2375, East Peoria, IL 61611-0375. The website will continue to be developed as the growing season progresses.
I hope you join me in changing the world.
Jody
| Growing Like Weeds
Driving down 474 after my husband’s birthday dinner I happened to notice how the vegetation along the roadside had shot up during the past week. I had noticed the weeds popping up in my flower garden, as well, and have had a hard time keeping up with them. It has been an unusually warm and wet June and it shows in the way everything green has exploded in growth. Some of the weeds I observed along the roadside were already so tall that a pair of red-winged blackbirds was perching on them.
I was reminded during dinner looking around the table at our three children, just how quickly they have grown up. Our daughter will be twenty-two shortly. Our oldest son will soon be nineteen and our youngest is now a teenager. It seems like just a few months ago they were toddling around exploring their world – everything new and exciting to them, learning by trial and error.
Now my daughter is legally able to have a drink with her dad on his birthday. Our oldest son is making plans for a business partnership with his best friend. Our baby is no baby – but a boy who feels awkward getting hugs and kisses from Mom these days. He no longer has the roundish face of a child but resembles a photo of his father when Dad was actually a year or two older. Kids mature much too quickly these days.
Some days I just wish I could freeze them. Other days I understand why some parents gladly send their children to boarding school and summer camp and why others relish the idea of four year colleges out of state.
Me – I am glad our two oldest are attending the local community college and living at home. As challenging as some days can be, I know they will continue to grow up and one day I will turn around and they will be gone. Our house will be empty and silent and I will miss the loud TV, the music blaring, the phone ringing and the cars pulling in and out of the drive.
Yep, makes me think twice about my garden. Maybe I don’t need to pull those weeds out so quickly. They might actually add a bit of interest to my garden. I suppose a little bit of competition for my flowers isn’t such a bad thing after all.
June 2005
| Reflections on My Love of Leaves
Reaching an anniversary encourages reflection over the past however many years the anniversary celebrates – whether it is 25 years of marriage, 50 years of age, or 25 years in the teaching profession.
Last year my husband and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. This May I simultaneously reached the fifty years of age milestone as I completed my 25th year of teaching. Needless to say, I have done a great deal of reflecting in the past year.
Last year I wrote an essay reflecting on the twenty-five year journey of our marriage – our various moves, the births of our children, the bumps in the road and detours our marriage has experienced.
This year I wrote not an essay, but a list, to begin my next 50 years (yes, I think about the possibility of living to be a centurion). It entails 50 good habits to develop and things to accomplish before I hit 51. Some are a little lofty – like getting my first book published. Others are habits normal people already do – daily tasks such as: Call mom. Drink 32 ounces of water. Take calcium tablets Friends and family will tell you that I am far from normal. They know that I could definitely use improvement in far more than fifty areas.
As I completed my 25th year of teaching I have reflected on not just the years that I’ve taught, but the years that led up to choosing teaching as my life’s work. I can still name each of my elementary school teachers and most of my junior high and high school teachers. I was privileged to have had so many good people to guide and educate me during my formative years. I credit those wonderful people, as much as I do my own dear parents with leading me to my decision to join the ranks in educating our youth.
I would be remiss in not crediting two men in particular for inspiring me to follow in their footsteps. The first is John Sherwood, my sixth grade teacher. He was truly one of the best teachers I have observed throughout my entire educational experience, including post-secondary schooling. The man greatly influenced my hunger for learning. He was strict, yet so loving. He had high, yet realistic expectations. I loved doing his homework. I still remember projects he assigned that year and how well he managed his classroom.
The other man who greatly impacted my decision to become a teacher is Dennis Winkler, my freshman biology teacher. I owe a great deal of credit for my love of the natural world to the nine months I spent in his class.
Mr. Winkler’s major project, a leaf collection, was assigned early in the first semester. The assignment involved collecting 25 leaves from various trees that grow in Illinois. He preferred native trees, as we used his copies of Native Trees of Illinois to identify the leaves and list the various bits of information he required us to list on each tree.
I still have my leaf collection, complied in the fall of 1972. I get it out each fall as I begin the study of plants in my science class. I got an A- on the project because I was one leaf short, but I was still happy with my grade. I loved doing the project – collecting the leaves from around town and connecting with the people who led me to the various trees and shared their tree stories with me.
I learned so much about leaves and trees during the month-long project – how tle leaves are arranged on the stem, their serrations, their texture, the patterns of the veins, their scent....
Although I did not end up majoring in biology (I chose special education) I have always included a leaf collection as part of my class projects when I have taught science, whether it was when I taught at the elementary level or in junior high or high school. I have taught science in the special education department at our high school for over nineteen years now. Over the past twenty-five years my little red notebook with my leaf collection has passed through a lot of students’ hands. You can imagine the joy I felt when my oldest son’s biology teacher assigned a leaf collection project his freshman year.
My students jokingly call me a tree hugger. I am okay with that title. I have been drawn to trees for so many years and can’t imagine ever living far from a wooded area or at least having a garden so that I can appreciate the beauty as new leaves unfurl as the plants grow. I am saddened each time we lose a tree, as I so greatly appreciate their magnificence, the beauty they add to our yard, the shelter they give to wildlife, the cooling shade they provide, not to mention and the life-sustaining oxygen they provide for the animal kingdom.
I surround myself with leaves, whether they are on the trees is our yard, the flowers in my garden, on my houseplants, in my photographs, my jewelry, dishes, artwork, posters in my classroom, stepping stones in my garden, or part of my new tiny tattoo….and one day I know there will be leaves on my gravestone.
I hope I have instilled in my own children and my students the appreciation of leaves I have whether they are on trees, flowers, vegetables or cacti. It is one mark I would like to leave on this world.
Jody
June 16, 2008
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