Two parables to guide us

I recently saw a magnificent painting called The Sower. The painter, Harold Copping, was inspired from a passage in the Book of Matthew: “A man sowed his seed. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the good soil and produced a crop, some a hundredfold.” As the sower continued to spread his seeds, some fell on the wayside and were trampled on. Some of it fell on barren ground and the birds ate it. But the sower persisted until his labor produced a bountiful harvest. The parable of the Sower symbolizes our industry and productivity and our ability to bring forth that which is best within us.

As I stood admiring this painting of the Sower, my mind reflected on the sowing that we do in our daily life. I questioned what type of sowing are we doing that will benefit our families, our community and ourselves? Will the sowing profit us, our family, and our community? Do we sow seeds only to produce children and then neglect them? What sowing do we do to improve our family and community? Are we planting mental seeds to expand our store of knowledge? What seeds do we sow at work? When the harvest comes, will it be a hundredfold as the sower’s in the parable or will our seeds have fallen by the wayside and trampled on? So it is: as we sow, so shall we reap!

We cannot deny that what we sow is what the community reaps. You and I control the environment and the political arena around us by our attitudes and actions. We complain about the injustice, the social problems, the economic recession, and the myriad other problems we face daily. But are we sowing any better seeds to reap a better harvest?

When are going to stop believing that better times will come from someone else’s actions or concern for our welfare? Nonsense! Life doesn’t work that way and you know it! Change comes from our taking the initiative and demanding change. But change only comes after you and I take the initiative and demand it. Change comes only after you and I refuse to tolerate abuses. Change only takes one person to seriously question the abuses and to stand up and rally us demanding that we implement the solutions that lie before us.

Are we lacking the determination and strong will to make the changes happen? Until you and I demand and do as the sower did our seeds will fall on the wayside and be trampled on and never grow. It doesn’t have to be that way.

All problems have solutions but too often we are not willing to pay the price to solve the problems. All solutions to problems have a price that can consist of a combination of emotions, ethics, truthfulness, honesty, money, community-first feeling, and sacrifice. Meanwhile our seeds get trampled on or get eaten by the birds. When are we going to wake up? When are going to stop shivering and whining like lost children? We are fast losing all opportunities for improvement. Let’s stop the madness! Remember the industrious sower sowed his seeds and reaped his harvest. What will our harvest be? Weeds?

Get a copy of July 11, 2011, Time magazine and read a most interesting article. The title is “Want to Make More Money than a Banker? Become a Farmer!” Honestly, the article proves that many farmers are making big money through farming. Population is growing, food costs are escalating, and as a result more food is needed. Seriously, it’s the best job in the 21st century. Read the article. Farming is not a hobby but a serious business and industry. We in the CNMI have the land and the opportunity to create a great business as a supplier of food to Guam. Why can’t we try to do it? An agriculture industry in the CNMI can be our saver if we become the sowers!

The following you have read before because I keep repeating the theme. It is the story of “Acres of Diamonds” which originated as a speech that Russell Conwell presented over 6,000 times around the world. It was first published in 1890. Mr. Conwell is also known as the founder and first president of Temple University, an Ivy League university in Philadelphia, Pa.

There once lived a Persian man named Ali Hafed. He had a lovely family and a prosperous farm. The farm contained orchards, grain fields, and a garden. Ali had money and seemed content. Than one day an ancient Buddhist priest passed through and met Ali. The priest explained about many things in far away places. He told Ali of stones that could be found in the earth that glistened like the sun. Ali immediately decided to go search for them. So eager was he to search for better things that Ali sold his prosperous farm for almost pennies and left his family.

One day while working in the field the man who had bought Ali’s farm stumbled upon a shiny stone-like object. He picked it up and took it home as he had never seen anything so shiny. Several days later the same ancient Buddhist priest passed by the new owner’s house and saw the shiny object. He asked the wife, “Is Ali home?”

“No, why do you ask?” The priest replied, “Because I see that you have a large diamond on your mantel piece!”

Upon returning home the farmer was startled to hear that he had discovered a diamond in his backyard. He quickly replied: “There are more—many more like this out there!” Soon the farmer became one of the wealthiest men in his part of the world. He had discovered acres of diamonds in his own backyard.

Had Ali Hafed remained at home and dug in his own cellar or underneath his own wheat fields or in his own garden instead of seeking and wandering aimlessly searching for wealth, he would have discovered the “acres of diamond” himself. Instead, he threw everything away and suffered wretchedness, starvation, and eventually died alone in a strange land. Had he stayed and cultivated his own backyard, he would have had “acres of diamonds.”

The central idea of the speech is that one need not look elsewhere for opportunity, achievement or fortune—the resources to achieve all good things are present in one’s own community. In other words: “Dig in our own backyard.”

Consider me crazy when I tell you that we also have “acres of diamonds” waiting to be gathered right here under our feet. No, I don’t mean the beautiful gems called diamonds. Saipan, Tinian, and Rota have many golden opportunities waiting to be started. Opportunities to succeed abound here in our own beloved islands with our families and friends. We need not look afar. We fail to understand that it is we ourselves who create and must create a healthy economy and environment. Seek and we shall find the diamonds.

Does what I write sound preachy and corny? Perhaps to some it does. But my motive is not to tell us how to live our lives, but to make us reflect on it and find worthiness within ourselves. Once we reflect on it, we will find the means to succeed.

Someone once explained to me that “Success is a steady progressive realization of a worthy goal.” Do we have a goal? Are we moving steadily toward it? Remember if we don’t plan, we actually plan for failure without realizing it.

As the old Greek philosopher, Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Let’s begin the digging and stop making excuses. No buts! Let’s do it!