When I was a child growing up in Santa Barbara, we picked dandelions from the backyard after they had matured into wispy white parachute seed heads, made a wish, and then blew our wish out into the world along with the seeds. Last month we went with my nephew to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, and I took a photo of this sign near the entry. We’re in this together. You, me, the dandelion, mice, mosquitoes, parents and children trying desperately to leave their homelands to escape violence and fear, teacher, CEO of a major corporation, clerk at the grocery store, construction worker, and the list goes on.

What is “this”? This simple, complicated, messy, beautiful, strange, puzzling world that we are each a small part of. If I had a seed head in my hand today, the wish I would make and blow to the far corners of this world is that we recognize our connections are far stronger than our differences and that if we truly listen from the heart, we will learn to respect and love each other as neighbors and good stewards of this land.

Lagniappe

Woody Guthrie’s song, This Land Is Your Land

Pete Seeger’s song, If I Had a Hammer