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"THE DAFFODIL PRINCIPLE"
Several times my daughter had telephoned to say,
"Mother, you must come see the daffodils before they
are over." I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour
drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead. "I will come next
Tuesday, " I promised, a little reluctantly, on her
third call.
Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had
promised, and so I drove there. When I finally
walked into Carolyn's house and hugged and greeted
my grandchildren, I said, "Forget the daffodils,
Carolyn!
The road is invisible in the clouds and fog, and there
is nothing in the world except you and these children
that I want to see bad enough to drive another inch!"
My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in
this all the time, Mother." "Well, you won't get me
back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading
for home!" I assured her.
"I was hoping you'd take me over to the garage to pick
up my car." How far will we have to drive?" "Just a
few blocks," Carolyn said. "I'll drive. I'm used
to this." After several minutes, I had to ask,
"Where are we going? This isn't the way to the garage!"
"We're going to my garage the long way," Carolyn smiled,
"by way of the daffodils." "Carolyn," I said sternly,
"please turn around."
"It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never
forgive yourself if you miss this experience."
After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small
gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far
side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that
read, "Daffodil Garden." We got out of the car and
each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn
down the path. Then, we turned a corner of the path,
and I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most
glorious sight. It looked as though someone had
taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over
the mountain peak and slopes. The flowers were
planted in majestic, swirling patterns-great ribbons
and swaths of deep orange, white, lemon yellow,
salmon pink, saffron, and butter yellow. Each
different-colored variety was planted as a group
so that it swirled and flowed like its own river
with its own unique hue. There were five acres
of flowers.
"But who has done this?" I asked Carolyn.
"It's just one woman," Carolyn answered. "She lives
on the property. That's her home." Carolyn pointed
to a well kept A frame house that looked small and
modest in the midst of all that glory. We walked
up to the house. On the patio, we saw a poster.
"Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking"
was the headline.
The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs,"
it read. The second answer was, "One at a time, by
one woman. Two hands, two feet, and very little
brain." The third answer was, "Began in 1958."
There it was, The Daffodil Principle. For me, that
moment was a life-changing experience.
I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who,
more than forty years before, had begun-one bulb at
a time-to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an
obscure mountain top. Still, just planting one bulb
at a time, year after year, had changed the world.
This unknown woman had forever changed the world in
which she lived. She had created something of
ineffable magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.
The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of
the greatest principles of celebration. That is,
learning to move toward our goals and desires one
step at a time-often just one baby-step at a time -
and learning to love the doing, learning to use the
accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces
of time with small increments of daily effort, we
too will find we can accomplish magnificent things.
We can change the world.
"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn.
"What might I have accomplished if I had thought of
a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and
had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through
all those years. Just think what I might have been
able to achieve!"
My daughter summed up the message of the day in her
usual direct way. "Start tomorrow," she said.
It's so pointless to think of the lost hours of
yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of
celebration instead of a cause for regret is to
only ask, "How can I put this to use today?"
--Author Unknown
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When I despair, I remember that all through history, the
way of truth and love has always won. There have been
tyrants and murderers and, for a time they can seem
invincible, but in the end, they always fall.
Think of this. Always"
~ Mahatma Gandhi ~
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