Mining For Hidden Gems

I always wonder how babies know to instinctively move their bodies to the rhythm of music.   I am also surprised that as soon as a baby starts to dance we don’t immediately start criticizing his footwork.   We do not expect everyone to become accomplished ballerinas or competition ballroom dancers.   We are all expected to get up and respond to the music, have fun and make fools of ourselves.   Dancing is a way to show feelings, express ourselves, however clumsily.   So is writing. If writing is putting our thoughts into words and transcribing them on a permanent surface to preserve, to share and to propagate, then we all have as much right to write as to dance.   We may not all become published authors and go on book tours.   But we all have a right to scribe.   So who gets to be a writer? If you have a thought, you can be a writer.   If you have feelings and opinions you are entitled to your own piece of paper and pencil.   My...

As a child, I suffered from chronic tonsillitis.   I remember getting a penicillin shot almost every other week.   This was back in the early sixties in Iran where disposable needles weren’t available yet.   I remember climbing the stairs to the top floor of the pharmacy where a man in a white coat would take out a giant metal injector and place it in a steel container with boiling water to sterilize it.   He would then approach me, who was being restrained by a mother or a father and probably screaming my head off.   Next thing I remember I am walking up the stairs of my house rubbing my sore behind.   When I think of this memory, I also think of books.   Books were my incentive for enduring these painful experiences.   Every time I had to get a shot, my mother would buy me a book!   By age five when I finally had my tonsils removed, I had amassed quite a library.   In second grade when I came down with a severe case of...

First, prepare the ground. It must have the conditions   for the proper flourishing of a variety of seeds. As a matter of fact, back up. Familiarize yourself with the seeds. Find out as much about each of them as possible. Where are they from? Are they transplants or natives? Do they need lots of warmth, Or do they like to stay out of the light. Do they need space to grow, Or need something to grow on? Do they need constant care or are they resilient by nature, self-starters. You must be willing to get your hands dirty. You must be patient. You may not see results right away. Not all of them will show signs of growth at the same time. But you must never, under any condition, lose hope. Know that you may have ones who are not suited to the environment you have created. At least not right now. They may not respond, yet. Do not blame the seed! Do not be angry at where it came from. There is no return po...