don't just plant the roses

 

being vs doing

I have long been intrigued by two poles:

being and doing,

finding self internally, or

finding self externally,

being in the moment for its own sake,

or being in the moment for the future's sake,

retirement has upped the ante on such self-definition,

for over half a century

I defined much of myself as of value

because of the calling I lived as educator:

student after student coming into my working world

and the guidance, and love, and support, I gave them

made me feel good about myself,

for who I was in the doing

made a difference for the good

in who they were able to be,

the moments of the planting

subordinate to the hope in the future,

at the same time I also found self-worth in other doing,

in the reflecting of thought and feeling

upon the page, such as this,

in the capturing of moments with my camera:

the eyes of student, of teacher, of family,

the glory of place, mountain and sea,

and animal and flower and tree, within their world,

held so that their being fully themselves could on the page,

such words and such photography, 

are of the doing, are of my doing,

but also they are of the subject before me being itself,

looking out the windows

through which the universe can show itself to us,

I work hard these days to both remember the gifts of my doing

and also the gifts I can receive, that every moment still alive,

lets me be ready to open to revelation,

such as this poem of my journey,

and appreciation of this moment,

in many ways my "doing" allows my "being,

I don't just plant the roses,

I smell them, and appreciate all the fleeting moments.

by Henry H. Walker

September 23, ‘26