A parable beginning before our time, for our time, and for time after time. A story of the power of one: one person, one imaginative idea turned into one wild dream, one wild dream enacted one day, then another, and another. One story of a simple hidden act performed by a simple man again and again and again with the audacity of hope and without the typical craving for attention and fanfare. “He’s found a perfect way to be happy,” wrote the French writer Jean Giono of the man he dreamed up, Elzeard Bouffier, who should be a patron saint for our time.
If this story by Giono (1895-1970) published in 1953 or this simple, elegant adaptation by Canadian artist and film animator Frédéric Back were required reading or watching for every first grader in the world every year from here on out, perhaps then the planet that has sustained us so generously and unpretentiously will survive and flourish for our children and their children and their children and their children world without end. Amen..Why first graders? Because unlike so many adults, first graders know intuitively when a story is true even if it isn’t factual.
And maybe a first grade classroom each year could invite their President or Prime Minister or Chancellor or Queen or King or Chairman to come watch it with them. Hey, first graders, pass them some crayons. Ask them to draw pictures of the tree-planter Elzeard Bouffier with you. Ask them to help you hang them around your classroom. Don’t let them say no..
In the meantime, I encourage you to set aside 30 minutes, hit Play and the Full Screen icon, and watch this film, maybe with someone you love, a friend, maybe a child or two or a grandchild or a grown man or woman who is concerned about the world we are leaving the children. Consider it video divina.
“It had become a place where one would want to live.”
♦ I recommend this beautiful version of Jean Giono’s book The Man Who Planted Trees with illustrations by Michael McCurdy.
For a wonderful article on Jean Giono and The Man Who Planted Trees, read Christopher Pramuk’s article here.
Always good stuff from you , Dan. Deep Bows.
Dan, this is so beautifully moving and hopeful! One of the things that trained me for Spiritual Direction more than anything else was being a Kindergarten teacher for 3 years – especially grateful for children’s literature and the power of story (plus art as process and the essential requirement of being present)! Thank you for this lovely and deeply moving post!
Christy, I suspect if every spiritual director had once been a kindergarten teacher the world would be a better place and spiritual practitioners would be a wiser lot.
What a beautiful story, Dan. We missed you last Sunday.