Easing back in after a lovely break, some of it spent sitting near the butterfly bush (Buddleja) in the garden, watching hummingbirds, contemplating practical advice from the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Muta Maathai: Do the best you can!

Recognized for her persistent struggle for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation, the Kenyan scientist who died in 2011, urged relentless involvement in protecting our planet. As a founder of the Green Belt Movement she empowered communities to improve their lives and make the world a greener place.

Here is her allegory that has become kind of a mantra for me:

“The story of the hummingbird is about this huge forest being consumed by a fire. All the animals in the forest come out and they are transfixed as they watch the forest burning and they feel very overwhelmed, very powerless, except this little hummingbird. It says, ‘I’m going to do something about the fire!’ So it flies to the nearest stream and takes a drop of water. It puts it on the fire, and goes up and down, up and down, up and down, as fast as it can.

In the meantime all the other animals, much bigger animals like the elephant with a big trunk that could bring much more water, they are standing there helpless. And they are saying to the hummingbird, ‘What do you think you can do? You are too little. This fire is too big. Your wings are too little and your beak is so small that you can only bring a small drop of water at a time.’

But as they continue to discourage it, it turns to them without wasting any time and it tells them, ‘I am doing the best I can.’ 

And that to me is what all of us should do. We should always be like a hummingbird. I may be insignificant, but I certainly don’t want to be like the animals watching the planet goes down the drain. I will be a hummingbird, I will do the best I can.”

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My ongoing resolution:

SMALL DROPLET – BLOGS against the fires around us: I’ll do the best I can.

And here is what I have been listening to.