The Acorn Planter

A young traveler was once exploring the French alps. He came upon a vast stretch of barren land. It was desolate, forbidding and ugly. It was the kind of place you would hurry away from. Then suddenly, the young traveler saw something that amazed him. In the middle of this vast wasteland was a bent over old man. On his back was a sack of acorns and in his hand, a long iron pipe. The man was using the iron pipe to punch holes in the ground. Then from the sack he would take an acorn and place it in the hole. The old man told the young traveler, “I’ve planted over 100,000 acorns. Perhaps only a tenth of them will survive and grow.”

The old man’s wife and son were dead, and this was how he chose to spend his final years. “ I want to do something useful,” he said. Twenty five years later, the now-not-as-young traveler returned to the same desolate area. What he saw made him stop dead in his tracks. He could not believe his own eyes. The land was covered with a beautiful forest almost two miles wide and five miles long. Birds were singing, animals were playing, and wild flowers perfumed the air. The traveler stood there recalling the desolation there once was; a beautiful oak forest stood there now – all because someone cared.

I am only one but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something and just because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something I can.