Community Service Day

I have never had taken the opportunity to perform any kind of community service until today.  I am both humbled by and thankful for the experience.  We took a group of students from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth to a local farm at the Dartmouth YMCA that is sponsored by local businesses, run by volunteers and donates its produce to local food pantries, food banks and soup kitchens.

Those of you who know me know that I am not the outdoors type and that gardening is on the bottom of my list right below a root canal but today you would have been proud of me for getting in there and doing some weeding, harvesting, washing etc for a good cause.  It felt great - until my knees started to ache this afternoon from all of the squatting - it did and does feel good though that we were able to help out.  The YMCA volunteer coordinator said that the weeding that we did in one hour would have taken her at least a week to do by herself.  The fact that all of the food goes to worthy causes made our efforts that much more worthwhile and though I will be consuming some Advil tonight and headed to bed early, I am down to do it again next year with a few stipulations:

1. We get a great day like we had today - highs in the upper 70s with low humidity
2. We do not have to return to the office afterward - my God was I a mess
3. It is on a Friday so that I can sleep in on the following morning

Subtlety

The ancients did not seek to rule people with knowledge,
But to help them become natural.

It is difficult for knowledgeable people to become natural;
So to use law to control a nation weakens the nation,
But to use nature to control a nation strengthens the nation.

Understanding these two paths is understanding subtlety;
Subtlety runs deep, ranges wide,
Resolves confusion and preserves peace.

-LaoTze-