Peach Blossoms
Every year in late April, I eagerly anticipate the emergence of these peach blossoms that brighten the landscape where I live. They signal the arrival of spring and the hope of delicious peaches in a few months. The beauty of these blossoms are a gift to me, one completely unearned.
This week we’re going to open our eyes to the gifts of our place.
You know how special it is to receive a special, handpicked gift from a friend, one with no strings attached. You don’t feel obligated to give something in return, instead you gratefully receive the offering. The giver does receive something, most likely a feeling of generosity and care, through the look of delight on your face. At another point in time, you will probably care for them in a similar way. What goes around comes around.
A few weeks ago, I asked you to think about kin as those you care about and who care about you in return. In other words, kin are those with whom we’re in a relationship. We also explored the possibility of expanding our kin to include other non-human living beings. All kin relationships have reciprocity at their heart - some kind of mutual exchange, give and take, or a recognition of interdependence. Whether we realize it or not, we are always entangled with the world around us, in a web of relationships.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll share examples of reciprocity. I hope that they help you become more aware of where reciprocity shows up in your place.
Your Place as Ecosystem
A healthy ecosystem is a perfect example of reciprocity at work. Each element of the system gives what it can for the benefit of all. No element of the system takes more than it needs. By ensuring that everyone thrives, the ecosystem ensures its survival.
Notice, I said “healthy” ecosystem. Sometimes the ecosystem and the relationships within get out of balance, for example, a predator takes more than it needs or elements of the system are degraded. The system, quite naturally, responds with distress. Current climate change impacts are an example of this response. But, that’s a whole other topic.
Your place is an ecosystem, which provides “services” (I prefer the term “gifts”) that everyone depends on to thrive. Let’s start with the air that you breathe. At every moment, you’re breathing in oxygen provided by plants. In return, you breathe out carbon dioxide, which is needed and stored by the plants. This is reciprocity in action.
These gifts are not designed to serve you specifically but to offer to the whole. In my place, the peach blossoms provide beauty for everyone. If the air is polluted, everyone suffers. Everything we do has an impact on our place. We are not consumers of resources but subjects in an ongoing exchange with other subjects - kin.
Practice
“You can’t know reciprocity until you know the gift.” ~ Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass
For this week, just notice the unearned gifts you receive daily from your place. Stop and linger, noticing what you’re receiving, unearned, at the moment. Look for nuances, subtleties, like a warm wind on your face. Make a list and add to it throughout the week. Share it in the comments or post on Instagram and add the hashtag #seeingyourplace2022.
What resources of care do you rely upon in your place that are unearned? For example, I relied on walks in the forest during Covid lockdowns, for my own mental health.
Resources
Sharing Life: The Ecopolitics of Reciprocity by Andreas Weber (free pdf)
Weber’s essay posits that the individual is important but can only thrive if the collective thrives. Each of us co-creates this world and for life to continue we need to take that responsibility seriously.
The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer via Emergence Magazine
Kimmerer writes about reciprocity in terms of “gift” economies, ones of abundance, not scarcity.