I have spent years now walking under a cluster of cherry trees along Liberty Avenue, and for years they have behaved like cherry trees, and I have behaved like a mammal. A few days a year, they grace me with breakfast. As I spat out one of the last pits, I noticed my hands dripped with blood. For a moment I thought it was mine.
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| Image via. MrWallpaper |
I share these stories with my students because many, perhaps most, of my students no longer know their connection to the earth, are afraid of what's real, and trust strangers more than themselves.
Why?
Because they are delicious.
How do you know they're safe?
Because I know cherries--you can, too
Isn't that stealing?
I leave enough for the birds, and no one else eats them. No one complains when I eat dandelions. Cherries are made from your borrowed breath and the rain.
With every breath out, we return what we take.
That's not religion.
That's biology.
Few among us today believe this. It's true despite our ignorance.