Gardening Does Not Interest Many People - Essay Example

Service Project: Gardening Gardening is a job that does not interest many people and is often considered manual and cumbersome. When people choose how to pass time they never go for gardening instead they look for interesting things to do. Moreover, some people do not like the dirty nature of gardening. Working with soil, dirt and insects is a repellant to a majority of people. However, I found my happiness in gardening. As a Muslim, we are taught the importance of hard work and the art of giving back to the society. Sadaqah is one of the pillars of Islamic that states the importance of giving back to the society. Therefore, it is in a Muslims religious nature to always give back or help other people as stated in the Quran. Since I was a student I had no money to give out and help other people but I could give my time and services. This idea got me into the gardening field. I realized that I could make other people happy by doing one of the most difficult tasks. I decided to do some volunteering gardening work in a school garden. At first it was difficult and tiring and I sometimes felt like I should just quit. However, the determination soon paid off in many ways. First, I got better and better at the job that I did not feel the hard work in fact I started enjoying it. This was so bad that even when I took time off I still found myself missing the work. Secondly, the manual labor was working well for my general health as I started becoming nicely muscular. The sweating removed toxins from my body and I could feel light and happy most of the time. Furthermore, due to the tiring nature of the job I would sleep soundly at night unlike previous nights. Thirdly, I loved the compliments being showered upon me by the students and the teaching faculty at the school. Everybody likes being encouraged and bringing happiness into the faces of people especially young people like the students in the school. The power of mediation is one thing I never had a clue of before I embarked on this gardening journey. Meditation is the ability to use the mind to bring inner peace or take some time off from the daily hustles. Since I was tired after long days of hard work I would retire home and sit in a meditating position. I did not know I was meditating until I found myself feeling good after each session of ‘idle sitting’ as I used to call it. Therefore, I can boldly say now that gardening taught me the discipline of meditation accidentally and I have lived with this until now. Nowadays I meditate knowing what I am doing and it is really working on my mood, health, heart, and peace of mind. In fact, had I not decided to volunteer at the school garden I would not have known the power of meditation? It was this renewed and found source of energy that led me to do another volunteering work at the food bank garden. I achieved the same satisfaction within gardening work here as the school as gardening is therapeutic in its own way (Barnes & Marcus, 444). To say that I was always happy with my gardening job would be a lie. Sometimes there are factors that undermine your efforts and frustrate you. For example I remember one incident at the school that left me dejected and nearly made me quit. I had dug a neglected space on the school garden whose ground was very hard and it was also mounted with tough grass and weeds. I spent three days doing that small piece and then planted some red roses. The result was very appealing considering that piece of land was neglected because it was hard and full of weeds and tough grass. However, when I came back a day after, I found the students had trampled on the roses and played with the soil that was loose since I had just finished digging it up. The place was a mess I had not shown anyone what I had done because I was waiting for the right time when the roses had blossomed. Now I had done zero work furthermore, my roses were destroyed and the loose soil missing as it had been strewed all over. I was mad and very angry and questioned myself why I was wasting my time on some hard work that I was not even being paid to do? I asked God that if I left and never did volunteering g work again would I b wrong or condemned since I had tried and failed. I failed not because I did not know what to do but because some people do not respect the work of others. Upon finishing my midday prayers I remember getting an uplifting insight. I thought to myself that maybe the students had not known that I had planted something there and that it was me that had not alerted anyone not to touch anything there. I could have just asked them or I could have placed a warning sign. Upon this thought I felt the anger fade away and I forgave the students instantly. Unfortunately this incident is not entirely alone since I also encountered another upsetting incident at the food bank garden. At the food bank garden I was really upset with people who would collect food and then remove their wrappers and just throw them in the garden. Some people also threw away food leftovers in the garden instead of the stipulated bins. However, they would comment about how the lawns were nice and I was doing a good gardening job. I wondered at their insensitivity. How could one person praise your hard work and then the same person goes ahead and deliberately dirty the same place he was praising for its cleanliness and good appearance. The people actions meant that I had to pick litter every day before continuing with my gardening work. It was frustrating and very discouraging, but I looked at how eager these people came to pick their food and start eating it right away due to hunger and I just forgave them. As matter of fact, I was overwhelmed with the work the food bank was doing to the needy people and their bad acts of littering were because they were very hungry. Now as I look back I realize that gardening not only worked for my body’s good health but it gave me three kind of discipline that I had not known. It is through gardening that I learnt the art of forgiveness, happiness and meditation. The looks of satisfied people and their words of encouragement and appreciation gave me the most happiness I have ever experienced in my life. Although now I am not gardening anywhere voluntary but am happy because of the experience I got through voluntary gardening work at the two institutions. I learnt that the best things in life are free as I cannot recall the time I was happy like the time I spent in these two institutions doing voluntary gardening work. I have had good times where I spent money on stuff that I thought would make me happy but soon they left me feeling empty and withdrawn. However, the genuine happiness I felt after the act of Sadaqah and mediataion could not be compared to anything. Forgiving people is hard and forgetting even harder but I learnt to forgive people and put myself in their shoes. I understand people’s actions more these days and gardening also taught me the virtue of patience. These tools will guide me through life because if you are happy, forgiving, understanding and patient no situation can bring you down. I add mediation to my list of to do and everything falls in place. Work Cited Barnes, M., & Marcus, C. C. (1999). Healing gardens: Therapeutic benefits and design recommendations. New York, NY [u.a.: Wiley. Read More