#1 What it means to be a friend.
#2 What it means to be a caretaker of the earth.
#3 What it means to be a poet.
#4 What it means to be a success.
#5 What it means to be me.
How about you? Pick one or all of the above and tell me what it means to YOU!
To be a caretaker
of the earth
means
remembering to balance
what I take with what
I give,
putting my hands
in the dirt,
planting, weeding, harvesting,
knowing where food
comes from and how it reaches
my table or my mouth,
understanding that we have
shaped the land
for thousands upon thousands
of years, and that the creatures
we have tamed also helped
in that shaping,
and that there is no us
and them, or it.
As another poet famously said,
“We were the land’s before the land was ours.”
But now, the land is ours,
and we must remember,
there is no us without it.
Katherine Quimby Johnson
(c) All rights reserved.
First, Do No Harm
I’m going with #2 as well 🙂
Being a caretaker of the land for me means literally caring for this planet and every living thing on it in every way possible (recycling, doing without chemicals, reducing waste, etc.) It means being aware at all times of the ramifications of every action and choosing as often as possible the action that does the least damage. If a person can avoid stepping on an ant, then do it. If someone can use less toxic ways of dealing with an issue, then do it. There are literally dozens, if not hundreds, of ways every single day, large and small, to lessen our destructive impact on this world.
These are hard questions because I never could see myself as any of these things until just recently.
I never saw myself as a good friend as everyone was always giving to me and I never felt I had anything to give back to them. Then I realised that it does not always have to be material things that you give to people for them to think of you as a friend. When I stopped thinking like that I found out that people liked me just for who I was.
So I tried to write a poem and with a little help from my friend (you) I was able to create one or 2 or more and that made me feel good. I still don’t feel like a success because I don’t have the courage to put it out there so to speak but maybe one day.
And finally what i means to be me. Well I guess I am the only one that will ever know the answer to that my answer. Anyone else might have a different one and you can never know what if feels like to be someone else until you:
WALK IN MY SHOES
Walk in my shoes for just one day
You will see things in a different way
A simple thing like crossing the street
Can turn into a major feat
You can’t give up
Walk in my shoes then you will know
How very often you don’t get a fair go
You try to ignore the things people say
But sometimes there is no other way
You don’t give up
When you walk in my shoes you will see
You just can’t walk , you can’t run free
You rely on everything to be just right
For all that you need, you have to fight
But you won’t give up
When you go through this day you will strive
Only one thing’s for sure night time will arrive
The difference will be that you will be tired
You keep going until all energy is expired
You don’t give in
As I go through life I struggle each day.
I always have to do things in a different way
There are some things in life I give a miss
But of course you can’t possibly know this
Until you walk in my shoes
– Anne McKenna
(The very first poem I ever wrote)