The Carrot Seed
A little boy planted a carrot seed
His mother said, “I’m afraid it won’t come up.”
His father said, “I’m afraid it won’t come up.”
His big brother said, “It won’t come up.”
Everyday the boy pulled up the weeds around
the seed and sprinkled the ground with water.
But nothing came up.
And nothing came up.
Everyone kept saying it wouldn’t come up.
But he still pulled the weeds around it every day
And sprinkled the ground with water.
And then, one day,
A carrot came up.
Just as the little boy had known it would.
-- Ruth Krauss
In his senior Chapel talk on Tuesday night, Kartik Donepudi ’21 recalled three distinct moments in his St. Mark’s career where his life was transformed in a meaningful way by other students. Arriving on the first day as a shy, new IV Former, he described the first student to transform his life as the one who welcomed him on that first day. The next student greeted him in the dark one night on West campus, entreating him to look through the lens of his night vision camera. This new perspective invited him into the world of filmmaking, a passion and talent this student possessed and passed on to him. Finally, he recalled an asthma attack he suffered after a difficult cross-country practice, where three of his teammates all walked him to the health center. This senior Chapel talk centered on the impact others have had on his life through a gesture of welcome, the sharing of a passion, and the support of good friends during difficult times.
The Carrot Seed reminds us to have faith in the seeds we sow each day through welcoming others, sharing our passions, and reaching out in friendship. We never know whether these gestures will make a difference, but we do them anyway.
Sigmund Freud reminds us “the deepest impulse in the human self is to be lovingly related to people.” In this season of planting seeds in the spring soil, I invite you to remember those lives who have impacted you the most. How might you celebrate and affirm those mentors and friendships who have guided you to be who you are today?
Like the boy in the story, we faithfully attend to the weeding and watering in our lives and may never reap the rewards of the final flowering, but we do have the opportunity to show gratitude to the people in our lives who have made the greatest impact. Thank you to Kartik Donepudi ’21 for sharing this wisdom in his Chapel talk on Tuesday.
