VITAMINS

As we begin to feel the approach of Spring, I look out at the sugar maple tree in the backyard. I grew up under that tree and have featured it,prominently, in recent writing. My Nana fought to have it remain in the next door neighbor's yard--a fight she won. (It helped that the next door neighbors were and remain, our close friends!) I have raked its millions of leaves; pruned its unwieldy branches; fed its denizens and shared its shade. Now, as it holds up battered limbs devoid of everything but a raggedy plastic bag (caught at the top), I send off this reminder to us all:

No matter what is going on
Never give up
Develop the heart
Too much energy in your country is spent developing the mind
Instead of the heart
Be compassionate
Work for peace In your heart
And in the world
Work for peace
And I say again Never give up
No matter what
is going on around you
Never give up.

(Thanks to the Fourteenth Dalai Lama).

Like the maple tree: never give up.