Jan
30
Written by:
host
1/30/2009 7:00 AM
On a small table next to the window in my dining room, there sits a dead plant. It hasn’t always been a dead plant. For several weeks now it has been a dying plant. Sometime in the last few weeks, the exact moment unnoticed by me, it crossed the line between dying and dead. Now it sits there, sadly shriveled up, its leaves brown and lifeless.
It hasn’t always been a dying plant, either. At some point the plant was very much alive; its leaves were green and vibrant, turning toward the window to soak up rays of winter sunlight. When I remembered to water the plant it would seem to perk up, nurtured by the life-giving liquid and the attention.
I am embarrassed to admit that it is my fault this plant died. I didn’t actively set out to kill the plant. Rather, I have been passively responsible for its downward descent. I have neglected my watering responsibilities. I’ve thought about watering it many times, sometimes even commenting aloud that the plant needed water. Each time, however, some other task, seemingly more important at the time, claimed my attention. There were times when I caught sight of the plant out of the corner of my eye and looked away to avoid the reminder of my responsibility. Occasionally I would hope that one of the three other people who regularly pass by the plant would notice its need and water it. But we are all busy, the inhabitants of this house; apparently too busy to take a few minutes to provide for the needs of a plant.
Now the plant has died. But it is just a houseplant, I remind myself. I wouldn’t treat a person this way! I wouldn’t neglect the needs of another human being because I was too busy with the seemingly important tasks of my life. I wouldn’t look the other way to avoid feeling responsible for a neighbor or a friend. I wouldn’t neglect a person in need, trusting that someone else would do it. I wouldn’t…would I?
~Sally Hoelscher