Honi's Tree

I turned fifty this year. Most of my friends (mostly those older) were quick to tell me that I was headed for the best years and that I had finally lived long enough to have respected opinions on anything I chose to talk about. I don't know if that is true. In fact, most of the time I don't feel like I know much of anything. As I watch my retirement fund dwindle and my youngest son's 529 college fund shrink and so many lose their homes and jobs, I wonder when things will get better. I don't worry for myself so much. I worry about the people Honi planted the tree for.
Honi was an old man and someone walking by saw him planting a seedling. The passerby asked Honi why he was bothering planting something so small that would not grow tall enough in his lifetime to give him fruit or shade.
Honi didn't care. He kept planting.
And that's the one thing I am learning at fifty.
Planting seeds is probably the most powerful thing a person can do.