Re: Hope and the Garden

ssikerd@muccmail.missouri.edu
Mon, 05 Jan 98 08:32:31 CST

To All:

Enjoyed Bill Duesing's piece on hope. Thought I might pass along
one of my favorite quotes about hope by Vaclav Havel --
Czechoslovakian philosopher, playwright, and political reformer.


John Ikerd
Univ. of MO
---------------------------------------

"HOPE IS NOT THE SAME AS JOY WHEN THINGS ARE GOING WELL, OR
WILLINGNESS TO INVEST IN ENTERPRISES THAT ARE OBVIOUSLY HEADED
FOR EARLY SUCCESS, BUT RATHER AN ABILITY TO WORK FOR SOMETHING TO
SUCCEED.

HOPE IS DEFINITELY NOT THE SAME THING AS OPTIMISM. IT'S NOT THE
CONVICTION THAT SOMETHING WILL TURN OUT WELL, BUT THE CERTAINTY
THAT SOMETHING MAKES SENSE, REGARDLESS OF HOW IT TURNS OUT.

IT IS THIS HOPE, ABOVE ALL, THAT GIVES US STRENGTH TO LIVE AND TO
CONTINUALLY TRY NEW THINGS, EVEN IN CONDITIONS THAT SEEM
HOPELESS.

LIFE IS TOO PRECIOUS TO PERMIT ITS DEVALUATION BY LIVING
POINTLESSLY, EMPTILY, WITHOUT MEANING, WITHOUT LOVE AND, FINALLY,
WITHOUT HOPE."

VACLAV HAVEL

-------------------------------------------------------------

Living on the Earth, January 2, 1998: Hope and the Garden:

Having just passed through a time traditionally filled with hope - for
longer days, the hope the birth of Jesus brings to Christians, or for
sticking with our resolutions - I was rereading an old New York Times
article headlined, "Hope Emerges as Key to Success in Life."

I started thinking about what for me is the visible sign of hope for much
of the winter: vegetable seedlings growing in a south window and under a
skylight, and their connection with the year's garden.

Hope has two components: desire and the expectation of fulfilling that
desire. We can't realistically hope we'll win the lottery. Although we may
want to win, we can't legitimately expect to win, because of the long odds.
One of the psychologists quoted in The Times put it this way: For us to
have hope, we need to have both the will and the way, or the means to
accomplish our goal." end quote. We all know the way to eat less, spend
more time with our children or to fulfill many other New Year's resolutions
we may have made, but we have little hope of achieving our goals if we
don't have the will, or desire, to do so.

(C) 1998, Bill Duesing, Solar Farm Education, Box 135, Stevenson, CT 06491.

Bill and Suzanne Duesing operate the Old Solar Farm (raising NOFA/CT
certified organic vegetables) and Solar Farm Education (working on urban
agriculture projects in southern Connecticut and producing "The Politics of
Food" and "Living on the Earth" radio programs). Their collection of essays
Living on the Earth: Eclectic Essays for a Sustainable and Joyful Future
is available from Bill Duesing, Box 135, Stevenson, CT 06491 for $14
postpaid. These essays first appeared on WSHU, public radio from
Fairfield, CT. New essays are posted weekly at http://www.wshu.org/duesing
and those since November 1995 are available there.


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