Editorial

The Bushel of Rice

by Éric P. Lemoine

I didn’t plan to write anything about the world’s economy. There are many who, more aware than I am of the dynamics, are piling up analysis of it… so why bother?

But you probably all know that life has this funny way of reminding us that there is something we are deliberately avoiding.
And when it comes to writing a little zeitgeist for a magazine like Wisp (where most, if not all, of the contributors have learnt to do things when they feel appropriate and timely and not under other external “out-of-necessity” kind of circumstances) these reminders can come back tenfold.

So I won’t write about economics; the word itself suggests a mindset of thrift which is frankly not what we really want. Instead, I will share with you a dream I had which pointed me to this subject.

But first, let me tell you a little more about these reminders I noticed.
First with Dale, who’s doing a brilliant job with her Shifting Views column but recently assailed by work, submitted her monthly article a few days later than usual. Late enough for it to arrive after I had this dream. In fact, the following day. When I read her article, I started to wonder at the significance of it all.
Then later that day I was doing some gift-shopping for a nephew’s birthday and among the children’s books I was attracted by a beautiful “pop-up” book about Ancient Egypt. Of course, you’ll find a few articles about Egypt in Wisp and even the astrological sign of the month seemed to have conspired to that effect. But here’s what I first read in this book: “Ancient Egyptians didn’t have coin money like we do; they made exchanges based on the value of the goods they were exchanging.” Now, I couldn’t help but smile.
Of course it would be unfair not to list other articles which I found in retrospect were speaking of similar themes: exchange, communications, value and trust in self (to name a few: Sharon and Anet’s articles, and even our first submission from as far as the Philippines ‘talked’ about inner abundance.)

All that being said, here is the short story.

In my dream, I end up in a sort of classroom after running some errands in a department store. This is a Chinese language course, and the teacher is laying out the contents of the course, especially the fact that we may need to do things as soon as they are taught so as to not feel overwhelmed.
Towards the end of the session, I decide to write the very few sentences she has beautifully written on the blackboard, but as if to confirm her advice, I notice that they are far longer than I thought, as if they are developing on my notebook as I write them.
She ends the class by telling us a sort of parable. Of an old Chinese man, who finds himself with a bushel of rice to last for all the coming winter. She asks us: what will he do? Will he eat it so as not to starve, or will it keep it for next spring to sow it, taking the risk that the rice grains rot because of the humidity?

This may very well be a simple but interesting summary of the situation we now find ourselves in, giving us much to consider; just as when I was a child it took me a long time to understand what was meant in the parable ¹ of the man who blamed his servant for having buried his money some place safe, and rewarded the ones who used it to gain greater profits with even greater responsibilities.

1The talents of money — Matthew 25:14-30