Wishful thinking

There is much evidence – both anecdotal and statistical – to support the idea that believing in the “impossible” can bring outcomes that exceed expectations.  I was thinking about this recently as I set about to harvest honey and prepare our bees for their fall harvest.  A beekeeping friend of mine – an individual that routinely seems to harvest more honey than anyone else – once told me that providing additional space than seems necessary for bee colonies results in more productive bees.

Perhaps all of us seek to do more, to dream more and are just waiting for someone to speak up and let us know that we are free to grow and go further than we imagined we could.  We have seen from experience that students who are challenged to do more than they believe they can – or their educators believe they can – are more likely to show improvement in academic skills.  Likewise, people who are down and out with nowhere to go – homeless people or those with hopeless addictions – adapt by trying to do more when they are moved into quality living situations.

It thus came as little surprise to me that I received creative and interesting submissions from community members in response to our first “Owl Vision” call for community entries.  So many times I have heard people say that they are not writers, not artists, then I see them create something magical that exceeds their expectations.  I have always appreciated the perspective of Daniel Lanois who, in talking about the 2007 documentary about him, Here is What is, on the track “Beauty” from the album with the same name as the documentary, said he wanted people to see that ”…beautiful things grow out of shit. Because nobody ever believes that. You know, everybody thinks that Beethoven had his string quartets completely in his head. They’d somehow appeared there and formed in his head.”  Lanois goes on to explain: “Things evolve out of nothing. You know, the, the tiniest seed in the right situation turns into the most beautiful forest. And then the most promising seed in the wrong situation turns into nothing. And I think this would be important for people to understand, because it gives people confidence in their own lives to know that that’s how things work.”

Many people, many leaders and even dreamers and visionaries forget that all that we do, all we become is dependent on believing in the potential to do more.  Several people have commented to me recently about how the Owl has grown since its earliest start – the first seed.  Like the bee colonies producing more in response to having more room to grow, giving many people the chance to be contributors, to give of themselves to the community of readers that we reach, has allowed us to share new ideas and provide more in-depth stories and articles that relate to the world, the community in which we all live.    

In preparing our bees for their fall harvest of goldenrod nectar – which they fan into rich, sweet honey – we provided the colonies with many supers (boxes) into which they can grow and expand.  To help them through the winter months, we provided them with empty frames that they can build into cells for the queen to deposits eggs for the winter brood.  We gave them space to grow into in the belief that in knowing there is someplace they can go, they will reach further and do more.  Perhaps all we do is wishful thinking, but with the tiniest seed, space to grow and a dream, perhaps we all can do more – for others and ourselves.

D.E. Bentley

Editor, Owl Light New