Quote du jour/Susan Hill

I came upon these words today and thought they were particularly apt during this time.

The Gardener

Of all human activities, apart from the procreation of children, gardening is the most optimistic and hopeful. The gardener is by definition one who plans for and believes and trusts in a future, whether in the short or longer term. To sow seeds and plant out, to graft and propagate, whether it be peas and beans, apples and plums, roses and peonies, is to make one's own positive stake in that future, a gesture, declaring that there will be weeks, months, years ahead. And he who plants sapling trees, which will not arrive at their full maturity for fifty or a hundred years, is not only an optimist but a benefactor to coming generations.

Those who constantly think of war and dread its prospect, who see an end to mankind and his planet, whose spirits are shriveled and hearts bowed down by the troubles and threats of the age, who refuse to have any hope, take any comfort, see the glimmer of any new dawn, should be gardeners. The gardener learns to be by turns daring and adventurous, tender and ruthless, meticulous and haphazard, gentle and patient. But above all, he learns to revel in today, while being ever hopeful of tomorrow.

Susan Hill
Through the Garden Gate
published 1986