Trzecia z książkowego tercetu. Wybór kresek i liter trwał, bo nie było gdzie się śpieszyć. Było delektowanie się każdą ilustracją, każdym zdaniem drugi, piąty czy nasty raz, każdym wzruszeniem czy pragnieniem, które te wzruszenia uruchamiają.
Z ostatnią zacytowaną kreską i literką kończy się urodzinowe prezentoczytanie.
Look for a need. Seek out a problem.
Find something you care about.
Do a little bit of good each day.
🖇
Have you ever
wondered if what you do matters?
This is the story of leaning in, digging deep, believing it’s possible, and making the effort. It only takes one caring person to make an impact. We all matter much more than we realize.
[…]
Caring is at the heart of anything done well. The joy is in the doing, the giving, the connecting.
🖇
The most fascinating person was standing in front of me.
[…]
I thought to myself, I want to be happy like that.
🖇
“I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s so beautiful!
It hardly seems real!”
The gardener humbly replied, “Well, thank you.”
“You did all of this? How is that even possible?”
She shared, “Little by little, one thing builds on another. Little by little, small things become something bigger and more. I certainly didn’t do it alone. I had the bees and the butterflies, the birds and the animals to help. And of course, the most important work was done by the plants and the trees. It’s amazing what a little caring can do.
And it's quite extraordinary when you care an awful lot, what a big difference you can make.”
🖇
“When I first saw this land,” the gardener sighed, “it was barren and scarred. It hurt my heart. Wherever I looked it seemed to be broken and dying. It felt like everything was covered in sadness.”
🖇
“That was decades ago, and I’ve been
doing this work ever since.”
🖇
“How did you know you could do it?”
I asked in amazement.
“I didn’t,” she admitted. “For years I wasn’t sure if I was helping much at all. It seemed pretty hopeless. The problem was huge and I was just me.”
“But I believe we can’t be
indifferent to things that matter.
I had to try.”
🖇
“Did you ever want to quit?”
“Sure,” the gardener conceded. “Many times I thought about giving up. Some days were especially tough. But when my body feels tired, I rest. When I worry about the world, with its immense problems, it can make me feel small and powerless. But then I come here. I help good things grow, and I am reminded that I do matter and that I can make a difference.”
🖇
“More than anything else, what I am growing is love. I think we all grow and spread love throughout our lives—in the way that we act, by choosing to help when needed, and by being there for each other.”
“I care deeply about this place. I like to think of it as a living invitation,” she shared. “My hope was to create a place where all kinds of beings could feel welcome, and I am thrilled it is now home to so many.”
🖇
The gardener gave me a few seeds so
I could try growing them at home.
I was thrilled and I planted them right away. I watered them. I watched them.
I cared for them.
Day after day, I looked for any sign of life, but nothing happened. Doubt crept in and I worried if I did something wrong.
🖇
Then, one morning, I noticed a small little sprout poking through the soil. I was so excited!
“But where were the others?” I questioned nervously.
I watered and I waited some more.
Days passed and nothing new came up.
🖇
I went to talk with the gardener about the seeds that never grew.
She consoled me and explained, “Unfortunately, not everything we want works out the way we want. It can be disappointing, but sometimes life does’t meet our expectations. The day doesn’t always unfold the way we had hoped, people don’t always do what we want or expect, and sometimes seeds don’t sprout.”
🖇
“But for all the things that don’t work out,” she continued, “there are many others that do and they can exceed our wildest hopes and expectations.”
“In fact,” she opened her arms gesturing all around her “they can turn out even more spectacular than we could have ever imagined!”
🖇
“We all have the potential to stretch, and to reach for the sky.” She assured me, “We just have to take care of each other and believe it is possible.”
“Everything is connected. When you do something good,” the gardener stated, “you never know how it might spark or inspire more good things in others.”
“Take this tree for instance, as glorious as it is, it’s not just a single tree, it’s a part of a much larger living community. It has fed and sheltered more animals than I can count […]. It's like that with people too. We are all part of each other, and we all have the power to spread goodness.”
🖇
“It’s impossible to know how far a single act of generosity or a gesture of kindness can reach,” she pondered. “We may never know who it helped or how much it mattered.”
🖇
As the gardener looked around, she stopped and reflected. “Many of the trees I’m planting today, I most likely won’t see grow big and tall.”
“Does that make you sad?” I asked.
“A little,” she said softly, “but mostly it fills me with happiness. I love to think of all the things these trees will look over, all the lives they will touch, and how much they will be needed in the years and centuries to come.”
🖇
“It feels good to know,” she gently smiled,
“that I was able to play a small part in their story.”
🖇
I still think about the gardener every day.
Her words and her deeds planted so much hope in me.
🖇
And now I know... with love, hard work, and caring,
a better world is possible.
Let’s get started.
Kobi Yamada, Caring,
ilustr. Elise Hurst,
Compendium, Seattle (WA) 2025.
(wyróżnienie własne)
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