Last evening, the neighbor's son broke the ring of the decorative pot kept outside our front door, (fortunately the plant was safe). Knowing he had done something he had been previously warned about, he ran away. No owning up, no sorry - I know I shouldn't have,... nothing. After a moment's irritation, I put it out of my mind...
Question: why did I mind?
Answer: Because some timeless values like 'not playing with a ball in an enclosed area,' ' respecting a neighbor's yard, or front door,' and most of all 'respecting plants (and animals)' had been violated. Is violated too harsh? But that is how I felt...my Dad would not scold me as much for a prank, as he would get upset if I treated one of the plants in the garden he was so proud of, badly - as in, pinched its leaves, or ran my hand carelessly over it, or bent too close to it. I remember he would insist on having plants at the entrance. We lived in a campus, and naturally there were many times when the students would come to see him. And, while waiting - invariably - would touch the plants. If they were nervous, the leaves would get pinched; if they knew they were in for a 'talk', whole branches would get broken; and if they were happy, chances are that some of the flower petals or leaves would find their way into their hands...and Daddy would, I think, sense it...and gently but firmly they would be instructed on how to respect beauty, and Nature...(in time, I think they feared that more than what they had come for!).
He never entrusted the planting of the trees and plants to the gardener - she had to just weed the garden, and generally look after it - but planting, mowing the lawn, loving and caring were done by Dad. Even the flowers that he gently cut and brought in every day, I do believe, only smiled for, and at him...
It was the same with the trees in our yard - we could climb them, play under them, run around them, but not hurt them in any way - any way - . He even dinned it into my DD from the moment she was born, since she spent a great deal of time in the lovely garden he had created... . Never mind time of day or night - she was in the garden looking at the sunlight through the trees, or at the night sky, or having all her meals surrounded by plants... .She was very young when he passed on, but she still, somewhere deep inside her, remembers........
I think plants and trees had a telepathic connection with him.
As for my brother and me - God help us if.......
And so we grew up learning to love their company - since we shared Dad with them.
Maybe that's why I sooooooo love plants, and trees......just looking at them and spending time with them is an instant pick-me-up...it's NECESSARY to my life...