The Parable of the Sower – 2002 Edition
November 3, 2002
Dear Friends,
Behold, a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and some fell among thorns. And it came to pass that the finance committee called the sower to task saying, “Why are you wasting so much seed? We have done a cost analysis and found that we can get our cost per seed down seventy-five percent if we use newer, more effective methods. You are going to have to match our seed to plant ratio soon or we are going to have to cut the funding in the sower program.”
So the sower went out to sow again, and he looked for some help from the others interested in the garden. He went to Sam, but Sam had taken on a second job to pay for his new sports car so he didn’t have the time. He went to ask Jill, but Jill said that sowing really wasn’t her specialty. Jill really loved to weed. If the sower needed anything done in the way of weeding, Jill would be glad to help. The sower went to Thomas, but Thomas said that he was leaving the sowing to the younger men. He had retired from his job two years ago and had done enough sowing when he was young. He went to Lisa, but she didn’t think she knew enough to sow. Despite the sower’s insistence that there was no better way to learn than to sow, she just didn’t think she was qualified. He went to Sheila, but Sheila said that she had planted a seed two years ago and nothing came of it. Sheila didn’t see any point to sowing when nothing ever came from it. The sower finally went to Larry, but Larry thought the garden was in too bad of shape to bother. Larry said we should all wait until the Master Gardener came back before we did anything.
So the sower went out to sow again, but the committee for Modes of Tilling Effectively (or MOTE), called the sower to task for not following bylaw 1675A-62J in the Uniform Code of Sowing. The committee had approved both wayside and stony ground sowing, but no thorns. MOTE also called into question the method of the sower. They had always done sowing overhand and the sower was using a sidearm method. Although the results seemed to be better than the overhand method, it was simply something for which there was no historical precedent. After the inquest, MOTE agreed that the sower should never sow on thorny ground, but could continue to use the sidearm method as long as he did so only in the more remote parts of the garden. The sower was warned and sent on his way.
The sower sat down and thought about all this. He worked hard at sowing. He would come home late at night and his arms and his feet would be sore. He missed time away from his family while sowing. He faced all kinds of dangerous creatures while out sowing not to mention the taunts and jeers of the non-gardeners. Every once and a while, a seed would sprout and start to grow only to have another gardener come along and declare it an inferior variety of plant not worthy of inclusion in the garden. He sowed without pay, without recognition and without help.
So the sower did not go out to sow seed anymore. All of the gardeners said “Why isn’t our garden growing any more? We used to have so many new trees and plants. This was really a beautiful garden in the old days. People just aren’t interested in gardening anymore. Isn’t it shame.” And the garden became overgrown with weeds and died.
Kyle
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