“The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has at last started to understand the meaning of life.” ~ Rabindranath Tagore
I think about this quote quite often. I don’t remember where I first heard it or read it, I just remember it really resonating with me.
I live in a world that is very self-centered – possibly now more than ever. In what was once a fight for our lives in climate change has now turned more sinister and, if possible, more of our fault.
When this quote first spoke to me, the first thing I thought was climate change. I see it everywhere I go – people that choose not to do something to better the environment “because it won’t affect me/I won’t have to worry about it/that’s the next generation’s problem”. I know a family that didn’t even start recycling until 2018! My dad was never a big believer (though we still recycled), but I remember when I first started getting to him about doing what’s best for future generations. I asked him “Do you want your grandchildren to have the same problems we do now? Or do you want your grandchildren to live better?” And though he’s never been an avid believer in climate change, he is certainly more conscientious of his choices.
Through the years, I have tried to live my life by this quote. Maybe not in huge, world-altering ways, but not all of us will have that huge impact. Sometimes it’s the small battles that mean the most. Even something as simple as re-racking weights at the gym can at least help make someone’s day easier (it’s like the gym-rat litmus test of returning your grocery cart when you’re done – will you do the good deed if no one is watching?).
Now the quote tangles right in to the coronavirus debate/I mean pandemic. How did a global pandemic turn into a political opinion? Wearing masks suddenly means you hate President Trump? I just don’t get it and everything is not copacetic.
While I am certainly pro-mask, my opinion is who cares even if they aren’t totally effective? Better to be safe than sorry, right? But I keep seeing in the news all of these outrageous people storming into grocery stores without face masks because freedom, and it’s just absolutely ridiculous. Maybe we should start asking anti-maskers who they are trying to infect, who they are trying to put at risk. Because while that person may be healthy as a horse, they might carry it to someone in a vulnerable population.
In college, I took a cultural communication course, and it was so eye-opening that I wish everyone had to take it. The nuances that make us America can be so vastly different in other countries! One that stood out – individualistic vs. collectivistic cultures. Not surprisingly, the US is considered an individualistic culture, meaning everything is ME ME ME. Everybody wants to be a star, everybody wants to make their mark, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and generally we make decisions based on what is best for the individual – yourself.
Collectivistic cultures, however, are the opposite. Harmony of the group is more important than harmony of the self. The bent nail gets the hammer, if you will.
Well… I can’t help but notice which country is faring better during this pandemic. I just hope that we as species – we as people – can start planting trees so our kids can sit in the shade.
