The Great Giveaway

I give you my breast

the earth

and suckle you with

corn and grain

plants and animals and fish

all to sustain you

all to feed you

all to nourish you

the great giveaway

my love for you

the food

so you will live

prosper and grow

From my breast

the earth

because I love you.

- Amy Sophia Marashinsky

                Once there was a woman who had two sons. She loved the boys with all her heart, but they were very different. One boy was a dreamer and he made their house cheerful and beautiful.  Perhaps he was very busy in his mind and had no ambition for material things. Or maybe he thought he had no strength or physical abilities. The other son was a doer - always moving, hunting, running in races. Perhaps he loved to win things and bring food to his family so he could help them. Or maybe he thought he was strong but not very smart.

                None of this mattered to the mother. She was proud of both her sons and viewed their skills as honorable! She often told people, “My sons are as different as night and day!” But she forgot to say that night and day are both very good things. So the boys began to believe that one of them must have a better way to be than the other.

                The mother just couldn’t understand it. She would give things to her Dreamer, and he would take them and say, “Thank you, mother. I love your gifts and cherish them with all my heart.” Then she would give the same things to her Doer, and he would shove them back at her and say, “Here, take what I give you instead. I want you to love the things I do.”  So she listened to her sons and took from the Doer with pride and gave to the Dreamer with tenderness.  She thought this was a good thing, the very best thing she could do for her sons.

                What did they learn from their mother? Perhaps the Dreamer learned to never fail or he would lose the love and care he needed to survive in the world. Perhaps the Doer learned that he had to be strong to survive and that tenderness would never come to him. So the mother was astounded by the ways her sons came to be in the world. She was dismayed by their inability to value each other’s differences or to love each other like brothers. And sometimes she cried because she thought it was her fault.

                That is what happened.  Maybe you know these brothers and what they give to the world. You can tell their mother she is a good woman and the best mother she tried so hard to be.

                                                                                                       by Lari Jo Walker

Marashinsky, Amy Sophia. “Corn Woman: Nourishment.”  16 April 2008. Mydailygoddess.blogspot.com8 July 2012.