Greetings from Hamburg where spring feels very fresh in the air with full bloom of cherry trees and light green leaves peeking out of the various bushes and trees. This is our first time visiting Hamburg this season and we are noticing all the subtle differences in the atmosphere of the city.
Recently, our family watched the How to Train Your Dragon movie series. In the first movie of the sequel, Hiccup, the main character, is the only one in his village to discover that the way dragons are portrayed by his villagers is not the whole truth. At the moment of his realization, Hiccup speaks to one of the dragons, “everything we know about you is wrong.” This sentiment kept me up at night. What if everything we know… is wrong?
I should have been more comfortable with deconstructing what we know. After all, Frido and I decided to give kids a choice to homeschool because we felt the social construct of the standardized system to be limiting. Instead of settling into a more predictable work life, we continue to pursue our business despite the uncertainty and challenges of self-employment. We live in a house with half of our utilities being off-grid, even though it can be inconvenient. Even with the “outside of the box” paths that I have chosen in the past, Hiccup’s remark reminded me to pause and ponder everything I felt I knew.
Are dogs actually acting within the ordinary or perhaps just talking to each other when they bark loudly? Can inanimate objects like trees have language even though we might not understand it? Can human souls communicate with one another even if they are far apart (without the modern convenience of digital devices)? The answers to all the questions could be “yes,” even though they might challenge some of the socially accepted viewpoints… and the list of things I contemplate like this go on forever.
I love both A.C.'s beautiful narrative about what happened to the tree in front of their house and Trina's stories about how she started her "plant log." Without prior consultation or discussion, they both decided to share thoughts about their relationship with a tree and plants, their rooted friends. We can call this serendipity or...?
So here I am. Just wondering what would happen if we occasionally paused and pondered what Hiccup said. What if “everything we know... is wrong?”
-wakako
always a work in progress...
Hamburg, Germany // May 5th, 2022
**This is from our BK Love Letter for May 2022. If you would like to see the entire love letter we sent to our community, you can browse it via this link.
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