Root is the Cause (April 2021)

“Root is the Cause!”

While walking home on one fine afternoon, a boy notices that next to his drives is a small plant full of thorns. He thinks of plucking it that evening but forgets all about it as he enters his house. Weeks go by and that plant starts to expand into a decent size shrub. During this period, the boy continues to think that he will remove that shrub but does not do anything. The shrub expands so much that now its branches are extended to the driveway. One day, while playing in his front yard, the boy gets badly hurt by the prickly thorns of that shrub. After taking care of his lacerations, he cuts the protruding branch that hurt him. A few months go by and the shrub is now even bigger. It hurts the boy yet again. This time, he prunes multiple branches of that shrub and feels happy because the plant’s branches have been curtailed. The plant continues to grow and becomes a dense shrub with a thick stem. Now wounds and cuts have become a frequent phenomenon for the boy. Tired of the frequent sufferings he gets from the thorns, he now wants to uproot the bush. But, the bush has become too big and dense for the kid to get hold of the plant’s stem, let alone uprooting it.

On the same street lives his friend. She has been wanting to grow a rare plant, which gives beautiful flowers but also needs lots of care. As she does not know how to plant from seeds, the seeds she sows never even germinate. One day, a small sprout emerges from the ground. Within a few days, a pair of small leaves also show up. The girl is thrilled. She starts to water the leaves and clean them with a soft cloth. Knowing the plants need nutrition, she sprinkles fertilizer on those small leaves. It does not take long before those small bright leaves start to wilt and the whole plant dies.

In the above two stories, there is a common theme. As a part of this month’s assignment, kids are expected to identify that theme, explain what really went wrong, and articulate what they would have done were they in the position of the boy and girl of these stories. Kids will also connect the lesson of the stories with their life by picking one of their life goals and explaining what habits they need to cultivate and shed in order to realize that goal.
I understand that this month’s article will require a bit more of thinking and analysis than the previous assignments but am also quite confident that our kids can draw upon their previous lessons to produce impressive insights.

As always, looking forward to beautiful interpretations.

Regards,

Harsh Mendiratta🙏