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<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN lang=EN-AU>Carol
Loughrey wrote:<BR></SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-AU></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN lang=EN-AU>"In my previous
email I described a session with youth and adults where the<BR>question was "How
do we increase and strengthen youth/adult collaboration to<BR>improve our
community?" One session posted by the 85 or so year old man
was<BR>"beekeeping". Since his retirement 25 years previously he had been
keeping<BR>bees and that was what he wanted to talk about. I wanted to ask
him how<BR>that related to our theme and whether he really thought it was
appropriate<BR>for our session, but I managed to control myself, as well as
control the<BR>sponsor who was having similar concerns. I have to admit
that I was<BR>somewhat worried that no one would go to this session and the
elderly<BR>gentleman would be embarrassed. Much to my surprise, the
session was very<BR>well attended with about 15 to 20 participants, and went so
far into the<BR>time for the next session that a convener actually changed his
own session<BR>to a later time so he could stay to listen to more about
beekeeping. On the<BR>comments sign posted it was suggested that the next
open space be totally on<BR>beekeeping. I know it was the highlight of the
day for many of the youths<BR>and was a real, living example of the mentoring
that the O/S was trying to<BR>encourage. I'm sure (hope) that as a result
of that session, he and other<BR>seniors will be invited into the school system
to share their stories and<BR>wisdom. And to think I might have kept that
from happening! Trust
the<BR>process!"<BR></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT size=2><FONT
size=3><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT size=2><FONT size=3><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=2>Seemingly there is more to beekeeping than meets
the eye</FONT>! <FONT size=2>Here's another take on
it.</FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
lang=EN-AU
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">
From: The Joys of
Beekeeping*<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN lang=EN-AU
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">Richard
Taylor**<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN lang=EN-AU
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"> </SPAN></B><SPAN
lang=EN-AU>.... The joy of beekeeping is no passive delight. Keeping bees in a
serious way, with concentration and art, is toilsome, sometimes exhausting,
frustrating and discouraging. But is also made the more joyous for the
overcoming of all this. The image of happiness is not that of a patron of an
amusement park, nor is it that of someone burdened with galling work, nor that
of greed measuring up its gold. Part of the image, at least, is that of a
challenge met, a purpose achieved - and achieved with great effort. </SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN lang=EN-AU>T</SPAN><SPAN
lang=EN-AU>he basic reason for any pursuit is to find happiness. Many people
seek it through wealth, power or prestige, and while some do find these things,
it is doubtful if they ever find more than the most specious happiness. The
ancients, who thought more about happiness than we do, were unanimous in
rejecting these goals as sources of it. They thought that happiness consisted in
having a good demon so they called it eudaemonia. There is no doubt that the
honeybee has been my demon, and an immeasurably good one as long as I can
remember. Happiness cannot depend on upon the gifts of our fellows nor upon
their approval, for what they bestow today they can as easily withdraw tomorrow.
</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-AU> </SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-AU>We are all creatures of the same
nature, or as some perceive it, of God, and share this lovely earth with a
multitude of things great and small. We were not given the world to dominate it,
to subdue it or exploit it as though it were a warehouse placed are our disposal
and for our exclusive benefit. Rather, we were given it to make our home in it,
to share it, to glorify it and to glory in it.</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN lang=EN-AU>One's happiness
is, of course, something personal, something more his or her own than any
possession. We do not all find it in the same way. Some never find it at all.
Possibly most never do, even when the means are at hand. But I have found my
bees and all the countless things I associate with them a constant and unfailing
source of it. I know that not all persons are of this temperament. Some look
upon this obsession of mine with incomprehension, some with amusement or
curiosity, while I in turn pity them, for they lack the capacity for these
particular joys so fulfilling to me. </SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN lang=EN-AU>* Linden Books.
Interlaken, New York. 1984.</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-AU> </SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-AU>** Richard Taylor says that 'the
knowledge that I could have depended upon my bees for at least a meager
livelihood has given me a sense of independence, which is itself a
joy.'</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN lang=EN-AU>Alan
Stewart</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
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