Tonight I resigned from a peace organization that, in my opinion, was all talk and politics as usual and no action or resistance. It was freeing experience. I felt like a burden has been lifted.
In politics, as in the garden, we can spend a lot of time doing things that are not productive or sustainable. In a garden this would mean using chemicals to offset other chemicals rather than nature to enhance nature. It could mean over-watering, or burning out grass or plants with too strong a fertilizer. In politics it could mean worrying about what others think rather than doing the right thing, or reaction rather than action, in-fighting rather that working together. In garden and politics, often the simple and straight forward approach is the best.
Recently I have been trying to live daily life with my priorities in mind, reflection, reading and writing; solidarity with and serving those in need; viewing life with prayer and gratitude.
Today in the yard I took soil I had made last year from behind the garage and spread some in the front yard garden, building five mounds for growing. In the empty space left by removing this homemade soil I will put some waste — cardboard pieces, wood chips, coffee grounds, vegetable waste — and start to build soil for next year. My wife thinks we should have a greater yield for all the work I do in the gardens. That may be true but it is the work not the results that is important.
In politics as in the garden it is the way we do things that is more important than the results. If we achieve our goal by hurting persons, misrepresenting ideas or greed, what does it matter? How we do things, working in the garden or in politics, is more important than the goal. It is that old saying that “war makes war” and never peace that is so true. The end does not justify the means and as Gandhi said: “Be the change you want to see.”
It is that old balance between being and doing. The organization I resigned from might “do” a lot but being the way it is and its way of proceeding is not for me. Leaving it tonight as working in the garden today made me feel “Free, free, free at last.”
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