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May 29, 2019
"Even in the most sordid street the coming of spring will register itself by some sign or other, if it is only a brighter blue between the chimney pots or the vivid green of an elder sprouting on a blitzed site. " --George Orwell
George Orwell: Some Thoughts on the Common Toad
Novelist and essayist Eric Arthur Blair, pen name George Orwell, is perhaps best known for his prescient depictions of creeping totalitarianism and social injustice as captured in 1984 and Down and Out in Paris and London. Blair is also recognized as an avowed appreciator of the living world who intuitively understood nature's role in transforming the human spirit in the aftermath of war: "I think that by retaining one's childhood love of such things as trees, fishes, butterflies and to return to my first instance toads, one makes a peaceful and decent future a little more probable..." In his thought-provoking essay, Isaac Yuen explores the remarkable capacity for wonder and compassion that exemplifies Blair's writing in "Some Thoughts on the Common Toad," an ode to one of Earth's most humble inhabitants.
BE THE CHANGE
Folded within the tender green whorl of a poplar bud, shimmering cobalt blue on a young bird's wing, reflected in the golden perfection of a toad's eye lies the secret sweetness of nature. Keep a diary of the small, hopeful manifestations of our planet's capacity for renewal.
