My Neighbor's Corn

There was once a farmer who grew excellent quality corn. Every year he won the award for the best corn. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seeds with his neighbors.

“How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering in competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked.

“Why sir,” said the farmer, “Don’t you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.”

So it is with our lives. Those who want to live meaningfully and well must help enrich the lives of others, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. The quality of response and joy depends on the quality of thoughts and love we share and spread.

And those who choose to be joyful must help others find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all.

---

Naren Kini is an entrepreneur in the Silicon Valley, Heartfulness meditator for decades, and loves music, writing and drawing. The artwork above is his own sketch. He will also be a guest on our Awakin Call this Saturday.