By Jesse Greist
11-15-2020
This past week, I visited two places in my imagination. They were not places you can find by looking on a map, but they were places you might have been, or at least you might have heard of. The first place we will call Egosville. In Egosville, there are four seasons, just like here: Spring, Summer, Fall and winter. In Spring, Summer and Fall, people spend their days preparing for winter. They gather wood to keep their houses warm when it’s cold. They plant seeds, water, weed and harvest, knowing that in winter there may not be enough food around. They can some of the fruits and veggies they raise and fill root cellars with all kinds of goodies, saving them for the cold dark days ahead. When the people of Egosville are finished and their homes are stuffed full, they close their doors and don’t come out again until the snow melts and it’s time to plant again, and time to start gathering wood for next year.
The other place I visited in my mind this week was called Sharington. At first glance you might think that Sharington is exactly like Egosville. There are 4 seasons, including a warm summer and a cold dark winter. The people in Sharington also must work hard to gather wood for their fires, grow and harvest food, and worry about what will happen when the cold swirls around them. But the difference in this place is that everyone takes the time to look up from what they’re doing and pay attention to the other residents of Sharington. If someone doesn’t find enough wood, others show up at their door with armfuls of neatly cut logs. If someone’s garden gets too many visits from deer and woodchucks, other neighbors show up with baskets of food from their own gardens, and don’t stop until everyone’s root cellar and woodshed is full.
I was amazed at the difference between these two places. I returned to Egosville and asked some of the people who were busy working there about what I’d seen and asked if they knew if their neighbors were going to be okay in the times ahead. One person replied: “I just need to make sure my family has enough. If I give my wood and my harvest away, there might not be enough for me – I mean us”. Another person barely looked up from their work and said “I have no idea, but if they don’t have enough, then it must be because they didn’t work hard enough. It’s their own fault.”
Returning to Sharington, I asked the people I met “Are you ever afraid that if you give what you’ve worked so hard to gather and cultivate away, that you won’t have enough for yourselves?” and everyone answered almost the same way. “No, we are not afraid, because we take care of each other. We believe that by paying attention to who is in need, who needs care, that there will always be enough to go around, even in the coldest, darkest days of the year. If we ever find ourselves running low, we trust that someone else will notice and share of their bounty. That is our way.”
I left these places with my mind full of thoughts, but decided to return for a visit during winter, and immediately noticed something. In Egosville, fires kept houses warm. Stores of food kept bellies full, but the people there seemed….lonely. No one seemed to visit each other. Doors were closed and locked against the cold that filled the place. Everyone seemed to be just waiting to get back to work and I realized that their hearts were colder than the wind pounding at the door.
As I left Egosville and made my way back to Sharington, I saw a sign at the edge of town, and on it were written 7 principles. I realized that they were the 7 principles of Unitarian Universalism. Reading them, I was reminded of the way that ideas like the second principle of Jusitce, equity and compassion towards others, and the sixth principle that leads us to seek a peaceful, fair and free world, can help us when the bitter winters of pandemics, elections and racism, not to mention literal winters try to keep us apart. Moving back towards the center of Sharington, I noticed that winter here was still a time of great caring, great sharing. A time when the fruits of summer labor were shared and celebrated. People here did not just wait around for work to begin again. They talked, laughed, zoomed, and sang. And as they opened doors to the cold outside, the warmth in their hearts sustained them as they donned their masks and sang together. And I invite you to sing now with the people of Sharington. We’ll sing this song together 4 times through. May the warmth of community and the joy of music hold us as we keep the coldness of the times far, far away