.jpg)
I found a couple of good metaphors for my teaching in the garden, but the one that seemed closest to what I do every day was this kukui tree. According to Lisa, it has been grown for too long in one pot, and had grown tall but spindly. Kawika rescued it and planted it in the garden, but the top of the tree wasn't flourishing. Instead, a second growth was starting, down at the base of the tree, thick and lush. That touched me. The tree had been grown under less than favorable conditions, and it was adapting to the new environment. The new growth, in an unexpected area more suitable to the tree's new site, reminds me of my non-traditional, older students, who are returning to school in response to change in their lives. I hope that it's my role to provide some of the elements that will allow them to flourish. Even more than my students, however, the tree also reminded me of many of our mo`olelo today. Didn't so many of us have to replant ourselves from a restricted environment to one more full of possibilities?
Awesome. I see it. I see it. I was so sad for that tree yesterday, but now I'm really grateful for it.
ReplyDelete