It’s in a big wood barrel, a lemon tree that we thought was on its last legs… or roots, you might say… because of too much of a good thing, all the torrential downpours of rain this past rainy season, out our way in northern California.
It seemed to be drowning, no matter what we were trying to do to keep it alive. We’d siphoned water out of the saturated soil in the barrel. We’d furrowed the dirt, with a small garden tool, so the rainwater wouldn’t pool so much. We even covered it with plastic.
We associate the tree with my late father-in-law. It began flourishing when we were in mourning. There was something spiritual.
Someone we know, who knows about all species of plants, checked our bedraggled, struggling tree, and said, “Don’t worry, my friends, the tree will be fine.”
And after a few months, our tree is better than ever.
This person we know, who, like many of us, maybe wasn’t from around here initially, strictly speaking — since our forefathers and mothers hailed from someplace else, before settling in America — has mastered his craft.
That’s a neat thing, when people from around the world can share their skills and expertise.
Just looking at the tree, this person we know… just knew the tree would recover.
There’s been in the news, lately, pictures of crops rotting in farmers’ fields, because there aren’t enough people with expertise to harvest the crops. Perhaps because of all the politics, focusing on the southern border?
This isn’t meant to downplay immigration concerns. But there’s also been news, lately, about a declining number of folks seeking to enter the United States, apparently despite various politicians setting folks’ hair on fire, with their fiery rhetoric about immigrants.
Maybe some, or many, folks hoping to settle in America, have much to share — like Europeans — over the course of American history. And immigrants from Asia, Latin America, South America, Africa, and other continents and nations.
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.