true to "thine own self"

 opening the gift of self

as a teacher at Carolina Friends School for over half a century,

I pride myself on my seeing the students as themselves,

as individuals not defined, restricted by family or societal expectations,

nor even by their own early self-definition,

of who they expected to be,

of who they hoped to be,

but rather, instead, open to what they could find within 

in their celebration of uniqueness,

each tentatively could open the present

that is who they are,

each could then find and use a true mirror

that confirms that each is on the right path forward,

and commit to trust and celebrate their individuality,

plus all the bonds of friends, each on their own similar journeys,

yesterday I savored watching four former students

who have found themselves as musicians,

who have found their way forward,

truly, and with joy,

what a gift to the current students

for three of them to share their music and selves in classes

the day after the performance,

helping inspire each student 

to continue on their own journeys.

by Henry Walker

September 28, 2026

learning from the plant kingdom

 

Mutualism

mycorrhizal fungi and tree roots,

chloroplasts and plant cells:

at the heart of these two great collaborations

is cooperation, mutualism,

the simultaneous benefitting of each 

from their work as a team,

for years Western science looked at the plant and animal world

through the lens of how a capitalist would view reality:

everything boiled down to competition,

each species, each individual, out for itself,

the savage reality of "red in tooth and claw,"

to deny that competition exists misses part of the truth,

to believe that competition is the only driver

ignores the truth of what we already know,

the truth of much current plant research,

and the truth of Wikipedia,

the truth of forest life has been reduced by people

to producing the most wood in the shortest time:

take what you can, while you can,

the only consequence to consider 

is the current budget,

success measured by this year's profits,

the value of the stock,

the satisfaction of current desires,

a clear-cut world is more of death than life,

an old growth forest is far more rich and complex

than what is implied in this simplistic value system,

an eco-system's "carrying capacity" is ignored, too,

when competition is our real God,

humans can consider limits 

as imaginary lines to be disregarded,

we only matter if we ourselves are ascendant,

mycorrhizal fungi and tree roots argue differently,

that each life-form can benefit 

from mutually-assured cooperation,

for too long we have worshipped selfishness as the prime directive,

capitalism is efficient as to production,

but it needs help in management,

we need to reorient ourselves so that

mutualism,

symbiosis,

cooperation,

community,

drive our ego to be larger than our individuality,

that we enshrine in ourselves 

both selfishness and selflessness,

we need to be as complex and inter-connected 

as an old growth forest,

we need to follow the lead

of the mutualism at the heart

of the kingdom of plants.

by Henry H. Walker

September 25, ‘26

"I suggest accessing Wikipedia is you want to get further in understanding what I mean by micorrhizal fungi and plant roots,

and chlorplasts and plant cells."

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

memory murmurs from the land

 

our touch upon the land

I walk in piedmont woods

that have known people for centuries,

by what people cut down of them,

by what people allowed of them to persist,

I walk in forests that feel old and constant to us now

but are instead of what trees have to make

in between times of axe, clearing machine, logging and farm,

a book I read long ago argued to "read the woods,"

I learned of succession,

of cleared land turning into pine woods,

of hardwoods overshadowing and succeeding the pines,

beech seems to survive the best in the edges left to them,

the long history of people here can express itself

as subtle indentations within the surface of the land,

where people, animal, wagons passed often enough

that a sway by the trail remembers their life and travel,

yesterday I walked over such a memory on the land,

I read the trail sign

that took its reality back hundreds of years

as Indigenous people walked it,

named it "Fish Dam Road,"

our touch now is heavy on the land:

concrete, asphalt, rock foundations, buildings, yards,

our pet trees and bushes and grasses,

I love the soft memory upon the land

of an earlier peoples' living here before us,

who treated the land more 

as if they were just visiting a friend,

rather than sculpting the world as if it is clay 

and they are as God by the riverbank,

imposing his will with his shaping.

by Henry H. Walker

September 13, ‘26

a potential goal of each An Evening With Friends

 Community!

every connection of adult with the student,

with their parents, with each other,

has the potential in a school

to build abstract relationship

into concrete connection,

and to build connection upon connection 

into community:

where individuals unite as if into families,

where families connect and become a village,

where any that can feel lost can feel found,

sharing is at the heart:

shared experience,

shared food,

shared music,

shared love,

shared meaning,

far too much of modern life

drives wedges into our connections

to split us from the wholes that should claim us,

the universe seems to love entropy, 

dissolution, 

the falling apart,

the best in us seeks relationship, 

connection,

the coming together into wholeness,

may we do all we can to be unbroken,

to show the universe 

that we are worth the investment.

by Henry H. Walker

September 24, ‘26