“A Rose By Any Other Name…”
Today is the one-week anniversary of Being And Doing’s maiden voyage. I cannot say that I feel any different – I’ve got the same old mentality I’ve always had. However, I do feel more productive. We’ve been working full days outside in the sun, and I like knowing that the work that we put in is something that will continue to be helpful and useful to Elisa Young and Guy Rose well into the summer.
Speaking of Guy Rose, I would like to say a few words about this unique individual. He is a 73-year-old man who has lived his entire life on a farm in the foothills of Appalachia. He currently resides on the land that he grew up on, is married to the same woman (Nancy) who he married when he was 19 and she was 16, and he has been all over the United States as a truck driver. He is utterly genuine, and may be entirely incapable of telling a straight-up lie (although stretching a story is fair game). We met him because he befriended Elisa over the issue of coal when, one day, he knocked on her door to thank her for standing up to the coal companies. They have been companions ever since.
Cows, Andrew, Chris, and Guy on Rose Farm
We spent Tuesday up on Rose Farm. It is hidden very far back from the main road, and the street name leading onto his land is appropriately named ‘Rose Road.’ The hillside is scattered with overgrown and rusted International trucks, jeeps, farm equipment, and volkswagens. Cows roam freely, keeping the grass short and the cow pies prevalent. He and Nancy live in a trailer in the center of it all, across the driveway from his house (built in 1897, some time after the end of the Civil War), because the house is in need of organization and repair. Over the course of the day, we managed to cut and clear some low hanging branches from the evergreens that grow around the homestead area; cleaned and organized their kitchen; planted some flowers, vegetables, and apple trees; and helped Guy get some tires off an old truck halfway up the hill.
While our labor was certainly helpful, I gathered that our presence was more important to him. We spent the afternoon strolling around the farm and the hills while he told us stories about his past and present. I don’t think he and Nancy get many visitors (especially young people who are interested in and respect their way of life), and for the three of us to listen, gab, and laugh with them was more helpful and energizing than any physical labor we could perform. I hope so anyway. His ability to maintain a friendly and hospitable demeanor, despite the hardships that he endures (he doesn’t even acknowledge that his daily toils are hardships!), is an inspiration to Be simple And Do what is necessary.
In a time when worries about money, war, and the environment are thrown in our faces everyday, it is increasingly becoming more important to be able to step back and acknowledge what is really vital for ourselves and for our families. Our top priorities ought to be doing what is necessary to maintain survival and simple comforts, while also acknowledging the importance of the people we interact with at all times. Physical sustainability and interpersonal respect are what will save us in the end, and Guy Rose is a beacon to that ideal. Life is what we are doing here, and love is what will keep us here.
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“‘People where you live,’ the little prince said, ‘grow five thousand roses in one garden… yet they don’t find what they’re looking for…’
‘They don’t find it,’ I answered.
‘And yet what they’re looking for could be found in a single rose, or a little water…’
‘Of course,’ I answered.
And the little prince added, ‘But eyes are blind. You have to look with the heart.’” (Antoine de Saint Exupéry)
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