I Picked Up a Small Stone . . .

I picked up a small stone and carried out some slight-of-hand for the youngsters. I then handed the stone to a lady, saying, “I am giving this to you.” Our playground is bestrewn with stones and pebbles. Anybody of them would have served my functions, however I would chosen this one. Now this woman had it. The opposite kids gathered round her, requesting a flip with this “particular” stone.

“It is humorous how the character of an object . . . is so modified by the best way it has come into your arms, as a present or a commodity,” writes Robin Wall Kimmerer in her e book Braiding Sweetgrass. This stone was only a stone till I picked it up, then gave it to another person. Now it is a treasure.

After making an attempt to make it “disappear” a number of occasions, in imitation of me, she handed it alongside to a playmate, who squealed. The primary woman had not squealed after I gave it to her. It had change into much more helpful as kids jockeyed to be subsequent. 

“The extra one thing is shared, the better its worth turns into,” writes Kimmerer.

The stone handed from hand-to-hand over the course of the subsequent half hour or so. Some held if for just a few seconds earlier than passing it alongside. Others took time to cherish it. However all of them paid it ahead. There was no grownup coaxing them or praising them. They knew precisely what to do.

“A lot of our historical teachings counsel that no matter we’ve got been given is meant to be given away once more.”

Ultimately, the final little one took his flip with the stone. He had waited a very long time. Solely he might say if it was value it, however he appeared as happy because the others. 

“From the perspective of a personal property financial system, the “reward” is deemed to be “free” as a result of we acquire it freed from cost, without charge. However within the reward financial system, presents aren’t free. The essence of the reward is that it creates a set of relationships.” And the duty to provide it away once more.

I figured the sport was now finished, however I used to be mistaken. After a number of minutes the boy started to go searching till he spied me. It had began as a stone like all of the others, however because it handed from person-to-person as a present, it had change into a talisman, a logo, and a ceremony. He accomplished the circle by handing the stone to me. And I returned it to the earth, who had given it to me.

******