The Little Island that Does

Every year as September becomes comfortable in New England, a teeny tiny Island in the middle of a small pond reaches out to the spiritual and natural powers that are.

“I am ready,” the little island declares, with certainty and braviosity, “to be the change I wish to see in all the world.”

And the spiritual and natural powers that are – each and every year since the very first year the teeny tiny island asked long, long ago – grant her wish. And so, at the break of dawn the next day, the island has changed from her lovely summer shades of green to blazing reds and oranges and golds.

And the big trees in the world all around her laugh at her differences and strangenesses, as they stand tall in their comfortable greens.

And then the people of the town rise from their slumber, and the animals of the town from sleeps of their own.

And as they peek from their windows and paddocks, and walk and bicycle and jog and drive by the small pond, they look and stop and proclaim how incredibly beautiful the teeny tiny island has become. And they cheer and say that fall has come to New England. And they take photos and they smile at the island’s bravery.

To take the risk, to be the change that she wanted to see in all the world.

And the other trees take notice. And because all the people and the animals are celebrating and admiring the little island, they decide that they will also change.

And the people and the animals celebrate and admire their changes, and call them beautiful too.

And soon all the other trees in the other places forget that the brave little island was the very first to take the step, to be different, and to change. And they forget that they laughed at her.

And the natural and spiritual forces check with the little island each year, to see if this makes her sad.

But the brave little island is always full of joy.

For the other trees’ new and vibrant colors are making people and animals happy, and the trees feel good and beautiful themselves.

Which is the change that she gets to see in the world…

Each and every fall.

Thanks for readin’.

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Oh, and yes… there is really a teeny tiny island, on a little pond in Dunstable Massachusetts, that is the very first to change its colors, each and every fall.

And, of course, the ‘being the change that you wish to see in the world’ thingie? It is one of my favorite concepts, and attributed to Gandhi, most likely for the following excerpt from his writings: 

“If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. … We need not wait to see what others do.”

My favorite part?

“We need not wait to see what others do.”

 kapow.