A Letter from Chris Suarez
IN A WORLD OF CHANGE - HUMANS NEED NOT COMPLY
Last week I posted a random picture on social media of some honey and some milk that a neighbor dropped off at the doorstep of our family hobby vineyard, a property we affectionately call “the farm”. Truth be told, I’m not sure we can rightly call it a farm. We have some chickens, raise some fruits and vegetables, produce a bit of wine, and are just completing a barn remodel to hold some private events on the property (more on that in the future). But you won’t find me out tilling the back forty. We don’t have rows upon rows of corn. We don’t have horses or pigs or acres of berries.
That's ok, because my kids call it a farm. My daughters sell eggs and raise fish in the ponds. They work there. They play there. They hike there. They learn there.
The immediate responses and texts I received after the photo was posted was eye opening for me. The emotions that a simple photo of a jar of milk and a couple jars of honey conjured up across the country prompted some reflection. The thought of a neighbor milking a cow a couple of properties over, a neighbor raising bees down at the corner, a neighbor driving up the property to the front door to share their hard work was pretty awesome. I received so many comments about how they grew up with neighbors like that. So many comments of reminiscing about getting produce from the neighbor down the street. So many comments about how great it was to be raised that way. So many comments of thinking back to the past and wishing we were still like that. So many comments about missing that kind of neighbor.
It made me stop to question, what has changed? Sure the world has changed, but humans need not change with it. We may not all live out on acreage. Most of us may have moved closer to town, and closer to work, and closer to schools, and closer to amenities. Yet in moving closer, the underlying sense in all of the comments is that we actually moved further away - from each other.
The world may change, but humans need not comply! We say we miss the connection, we miss the helping-each-other-out, we miss the slower pace, we miss the sharing, but it’s the “we” that ultimately chose to change. We as a group began to change what we did and how we interacted with each other. Environment is one of the greatest predictors and determiners of human behavior. And yet, the environment doesn’t have to determine our behavior or action. Often the environment makes us feel a certain way, which prompts us to act a certain way. We can work backwards. Decide on the emotion you wish to feel and then act to create an environment that fosters that emotion - regardless of surroundings.
Whether we have milk to share, honey to share, eggs to share, or just an ear to share, a note to share, a few minutes of our time to share, this week create the emotion and the world that we may be thinking fondly back to.
Funny story, I don’t drink milk or eat honey. I don’t even eat the eggs my chickens produce. And it doesn’t matter. I enjoy finding them on my doorstep. It feels amazing walking out to the front porch in the morning and finding them. And I enjoy bringing the eggs all lined up in their carton to my friends. Because humans helping and sharing and giving and caring about other humans never needs to change. In a world of change, humans need not comply.
Chris
