I emailed the following letter to National Public Radio (NPR) in response to their broadcast, yesterday, Monday, May 29, 2006, Tending ‘Defiant Gardens’ During Wartime. Today I recorded it over the phone with them for possible broadcast on Thursday morning.

Regarding your broadcast, “Tending Defiant Gardens During Wartime,” broadcast around 7:50am EDT, May 29, 2006.
[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5435131]

Thank you for this story, apt for Memorial Day. It made me think: How much “defiance” figures into my own gardening? The garden does not judge me. The insects and plants do not care if I’m angry or happy or grieving.

Gardening connects me to something bigger than me, bigger than everyone. Through gardening, I can tap into a sense of time that dwarfs the brief existence of humankind, the source of all suffering in the world. It reminds me that, whatever happens to me, to us, life prevails.

Gardening is an act of defiance because, no matter what people inflict on each other and themselves in the names of their gods, gardening demonstrates hope.