"If there’s a world here in a hundred years, it’s going to be saved by tens of millions of little things. The powers-that-be can break up any big thing they want. They can corrupt it or co-opt it from the inside, or they can attack it from the outside. But what are they going to do about 10 million little things? They break up two of them, and three more like them spring up!"
- Pete Seeger, in YES! Magazine

Monday, May 4, 2009

Do Deeds Count If They're Fun?

The project:
Brush someone else's horse.

Time:
30 minutes (but I could have done it in 5)

Why bother?
I love horses. I've always wanted horses. I think it would be no exaggeration to say that, while visiting my great-grandparents' farm as a kid I spent most of my waking horses on or around horses. But they're expensive little creatures to keep up, in large part due to property we don't own. (Had we the SPACE we could probably afford a horse, or two.)

Probably thanks to me, our daughters claim they want horses. The littlest one is nearly as obsessed with them as I was. So I signed them both up for horseback riding lessons. Along the way, they'll also learn about the care and feeding of the animals. Maybe once they see the work involved, they may grow out of it. Then again, if they're like me, they won't.

This week, their instructor invited me to help her out by brushing down one of her other horses. Of course I obliged. What else was I to do for the next hour? (OK...I could have read, or taken a nap, or watched the girls ride, all of which are also rewarding.

Worth it?
Yes. Lovely horse, easy task, plus it saved the instructor a few minutes - one less chore in her daily schedule.
Posted by JenPB at 5:21 PM

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