Qui plantavit curabit
I myself am not a great leader. I am a senior, a mother, a grandmother and a friend to many others. You may have noticed I am also an active gardener.
The word plant is music to my ears, no matter where and how it is used. I do always appreciate a good plant motto when I read it.
Qui plantavit curabit is Latin for “he who planted will preserve.”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt led us through the Great Depression and then through World War II. A great planter as he helped established a safer world.
He was fond of qui plantavit curbit.
Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a leader and also a planter.
He was a Christian minister and an activist, in the U.S. preaching fearlessly during the mid ’50s until his death by assassination in 1968.
He had entered college at the age of 15, and received his doctorate in systemic theology. He was arrested 29 times, and assaulted four times. He did not falter as he led his country in the heat and turmoil of the Civil Rights movement.
His most memorable public speech was “”I have a dream” — a dream not wholly shared by the entire country, but to many a beautiful dream.
That dream may still not be fulfilled, however he was a leader and a planter. The seeds are growing in difficult circumstances.
Qui plantavit curabit.
Many great leaders are granted a special federal holiday that is set aside for remembrance of their leadership and recognition of their heroic efforts as they tried to plant good deeds and seeds into the nation.
Monday, Jan. 20, will be this year’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
We may not all agree with these great leaders, however they at least did try to make the world a better place.
Walk in your garden, or someone else’s garden, and see how peaceful and well tended it is, or note how much better you could help it along.
The world is our garden to tend, step up and do your share.
Happy gardening till we meet again.
H.I. Jean Shields is Past President of the Garden Club of Cape Coral.