For a
human character to reveal truly exceptional qualities, one
must have the good fortune to be able to observe its
performance over a great many years. If this performance is
devoid of all egoism, if its guiding motive is unparalleled
generosity, if in the end of all things it is absolutely
certain that there is no thought of recompense and that in
addition, it has left its visible mark upon the earth, then
there can be no mistake.
Jean
Giono had been inspired by Elezeard Bouffier to write these
words in his book titled aptly enough, The
Man Who Planted Trees. Bouffier
was a shepherd who lost his wife and his only son in
southern France shortly before the outbreak of World War I.
Reminded possibly of his tragic loss, he became enamored of
trees and resolved to rescue the land from its lack of
them. He took it upon himself to plant one hundred acorns
each day for almost as many years as life had remaining to
him -- without recompense and remarkably, without
interruption. Giono’s words would go on to serve as a
fitting tribute to what he would go on to achieve and to
the kind of person who this man would become -- humble and
eager only to serve in the function which Providence had
assigned him.
Bouffier did so in complete solitude undaunted by
provincialism with his natural force unabated. "Let these
things be" he must have said to himself. After thirty years
had passed, the cascading effects of the marvelous work
which he undertook more than half his life before, had
begun to come forth. When water eventually came to the
land, with it came the grasses, flowers, fields and of
course, the trees. Forests took shape and grew and gardens
eventually punctuated the landscape. Where there was
desolation once, there was now hope and undoubtedly, a
refreshing sense of purpose in simply being alive. Shortly
before his death in Banon in 1947, he had, I imagine,
become at long, long last a very great and a very happy man
for he knew what happiness was and the way to it.
Bouffier derived it not by vacillating in the acquisition
of that earthly dross which too often passes under the name
of gold. His antecedent character was and remains
unpolluted by any admixture of base metals but from diviner
ones within him which he had from God: honor for himself,
service to his community and its artifacts of growth and
accomplishment for jobs well done.
Bouffier’s greatness was measured by the world in all he
did. Selfless acts of service whether they go altogether
unnoticed or are as keenly felt as his, enable us to find
joy in the tedium of our own labor, meaning in the tumult
of our own lives and solace in the ubiquitous and
despondent nature of the fragility in the human condition.
These are the very keys which unlock the power, pride and
purpose in who we are and in all that we do.