Gardening nurtures empathy with world

Over the past seven years, I have been fortunate to have a weekly space here in the Bangor Daily News to inform, entertain and share with you issues and topics related to gardening. Two years ago, my column shifted from the weekend edition to the Tuesday Style page. Well, change is afoot again: Starting Sept. 29, my column will move back to the weekend Style section. I hope you’ll make the switch with me.

When I started writing for the NEWS in 1994, I was a graduate student at the University of Maine. I leaped into this job having trained as a scientist, not a writer. Over the years, my editors have been gracious enough to quietly correct my grammatical shortcomings and my readers have shared graciously their encouragement, opinions and comments regarding my columns.

As many people know, writing can be therapeutic – even for a scientist. The short, simple truth is that I have enjoyed writing for you. In seven years, I have written nearly 400 columns. People often ask whether or not I have difficulty coming up with topics and until this week I could honestly say “no.”

But today, the events of last Tuesday weigh heavily on my mind and heart. Honestly, I haven’t thought of much else. And, so, when I sat down to write this morning, I had a hard time thinking of something to write about.

The pragmatic part of me fully understands why the word “war” has become part of our daily language, but the moral part of me that empathizes (sometimes too deeply) with human suffering really struggles with all that “war” implies.

Empathy can elusively shift to numbness and numbness can easily become hopelessness if we don’t seek some way to transform our sympathies into action. Some of us have given blood, others have prayed, sent money or material goods to those suffering and people working to clear away the rubble from the disaster.

Taking action is what keeps us above the fine line that divides empathy and hopelessness, and action quiets our rage.

This call to action, whether through one simple act of compassion or through complete devotion to the cause is something with which many Americans have been familiar. During World War I and World War II, folks on the home front were called to action in many ways. In particular, hardships during World War II had a dramatic effect on the ways and means through which people derived their food. Even city dwellers who never imagined gardening found themselves digging in the soil.

Newspapers in England and the United States published recipes to help housewives prepare interesting, nourishing meals during the strained times of rationing and shortage. American newspapers also published information on planting and growing “Victory Gardens.”

As its name implied, the gardening effort here at home wasn’t about isolating those in the homeland from those on the battlefield. It wasn’t about being self-sufficient in the sense that assistance from others was minimized, it was about being self-sufficient in an effort to reduce reliance on resources that could otherwise be directed to the military efforts.

As we approach self-sufficiency, our sense of freedom is enhanced. If we collectively seek some dimension of self-sufficiency in an effort to promote a particular cause, somewhat ironically, we can achieve unity.

It is in seeking our contribution to the cause, however large or small, that we widen that gap between empathy and hopelessness.

“Writing takes a certain amount of ego,” my husband will remind me from time to time.

I suppose it is through a sense of ego that I’ve been able, over the years, to boldly express my opinions and philosophies through this column. If I have expressed myself with conviction, it has been because my hypotheses in life have been backed by my observations of nature. These observations were made in my garden. I hope these expressions have provided a basis for unity, not division.

That, in no small measure, would be our victory.

Diana George Chapin is the NEWS garden columnist. Send horticulture questions to Gardening Questions, RR1, Box 2120, Montville 04941, or e-mail them to dianagc@ctel.net. Selected questions will be answered in future columns. Include name, address and telephone number.