Despite Everything

Following on yesterday's post of Adam Purple, I came across the story "The Man Who Planted Trees" by Jean Giono, a very simple and lovely story.  In it, a man in the French countryside lives by himself (his wife and child having died) and works on the land for himself and possibly for the unknown generations after him.  He plants trees daily, not knowing whether they will grow or not (they do, many of them).   He does this before, during and after the two World Wars.   War, destruction and the world around seem to have no outward bearing on his behavior, and he continues on, as he needs neither the love nor the attention of the world.  In time, his actions bear fruit, as what were ruins becomes alive, water runs again where once it was dry, a ghost town becomes revived, and people actually live and flourish there in joy amidst the blossoms.

At the end of the piece, the narrator comments:  "When I consider that a single man, relying only on his own simple physical and moral resources, was able to transform a desert into this land of Canaan, I am convinced that despite everything, the human condition is truly admirable,"

In small things too, I believe that actions are powerful.

The orchid that is blooming now after a few months asleep.