Welcome to Eureka Street

back to site

AUSTRALIA

Out of the hothouse, into the garden

  • 17 September 2020
  In the last two weeks frustration has risen at the continuing Victorian coronavirus lockdown. Protests, weariness in the community, the anger of businesses and their spokespersons, and attacks by Federal Government Ministers have focused on Premier Dan Andrews. He has not been for moving.

The responses have echoed the frustration felt by most people at the lockdown and the depressing realisation that victory over the virus cannot be guaranteed. They arise from the desire for control and predictability, and consequent demand that planning be an exercise of will power, not of discernment. The sign in public conversation of this syndrome is bullying of those opposed.

Rigidity and a focus on control are a natural response to frustration. In both individuals and in societies, however, they often lead to bad decisions and failure to make decisions. As we have seen in the United States wilful decision making fails spectacularly to bend reality.

In hard and straitened times planning and attention to detail must be matched with the recognition that nothing can be guaranteed and that a good outcome is a both a vindication of planning and a gift. Such humility, which expresses itself in the freedom to value the exercise of mind without expecting that it automatically be effective, does not come automatically. People seek and come to value it in many ways: through music, meditation, art, creative writing or walking, for example.

Another everyday exercise in planning and humility is gardening. For amateur gardeners, at least, planning, planting, pruning, watering and placing all have their place. But ultimately the plants make their way and take their individual shape. Ideally, the gardener will make a well thought-out proposal to which the plants will respond. We gardeners may have a vision in which colour, form and scent combine as we plant seeds from last year’s flowers, shape and prepare beds, plant and distance seedlings for borders and beds, bulbs and bushes, but we wait on the outcome. Experience teaches us how to assess the health of the plants, deal with pests that eat their leaves, and to understand the effects of seasonal sunlight and wind on their flourishing.

Each year we then wait as the first buds appear, the coming of the flowers, the harmony of colours, and the spreading of the plants to match the space. When the reality happily corresponds to our vision and planning, our first response is normally one of wonder and gratitude.

Join the conversation. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter  Subscribe