It was a chilly, overcast day when the horseman spied the little sparrow lying on its back in the middle of the road. Reining in his mount, he looked down and inquired of the fragile creature, “Why are you lying upside down like that?”
“I heard the heavens are going to fall today,” replied the bird.
The horseman laughed. “And I suppose your spindly legs can hold up the heavens?”
In the dark of the moon, in flying snow, in the dead of winter, war spreading, families dying, the world in danger, I walk the rocky hillside, throwing clover.
– Wendell Barry “February 2, 1968” from The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry
I believe the title of Berry’s poem refers to the Tet Offensive . . . a dark time in history. In times of violence and war it may feel impossible to muster any hope, but it, like the clover, is needed then – like now – more than ever.
On Optimism and Pessimism
(as opposed to authentic Hope)
An optimist says, in effect, “Don’t worry, it’s going to turn out all right.” A pessimist says, “It’s going down the drain and there’s nothing you can do about it” Both get us off the hook. Our place is on the hook. Whether things turn out for the better depends on what we do. We ought not spend our time masterminding the future, but recognize our marching order: to do the best we can for history and the planet. One of my favorite prayers was written by a 9-year old. His mother found it scribbled on a note beside his bed, “Dear God, I’m doing the best I can.”
-Huston Smith in “Datebook”, San Francisco Chronicle, May 24, 2009
It was a chilly, overcast day when the horseman spied the little sparrow lying on its back in the middle of the road. Reining in his mount, he looked down and inquired of the fragile creature, “Why are you lying upside down like that?”
Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come.
OPreach 