Are You Woke Yet?

 

    Being 'WOKE' has become a red meat word in politics. It connotates having ideas, opinions, views, perspective, ideology, that goes against historically accepted American understandings of history and the American way of life. To be 'Woke' may cause you to be ridiculed.

    By definintion, WOKE is the past tense of WAKE. The definition of wake is to emerge or cause to emerge from a state of sleep; stop sleeping. Simple definition right? It is also a noun: a watch or vigil held beside the body of someone who has died, sometimes accompanied by ritual observances including eating and drinking. So, people who are now WOKE or accused of being woke, are emerging from a state of sleep or holding vigil over something that has died. Why is this a bad thing?

    While sitting on my porch this rainy day, my thoughts went to the future. The future of my garden. Several plants have emerged from the ground this April, but not all of them have shown their faces and I'm wondering; are they dead or if they just haven't WOKE up yet? Am I rushing the Spring time window in which the Earth awakens? I thought how long does the 'awakening' process take?

    Of course, if you know me, I related the awakening Earth to humans. Do we and should we have an awakening? Is it a natural course of life to be, in some form or fashion, reborn, renewed, awakened into a new season of what is old and expected and yet filled with the new. 

    Many plants in the garden return each year bigger and better. These same reliable plants, at times, need to be divided because they have grown too big for the space. The divisions can be replanted in another spot in the garden to grow big and strong, or shared with friends, or thrown away because it's time in the garden is over and another space for it can't be found. Some plants, like my favored rose, needs pruning before the Spring season. Pruning keeps the rose from having weak stems, unwanted stems going in the wrong direction, and encourages more and larger blooms. The thing the gardener knows is, the plants in the garden are always changing.

    Some people also want to emerge 'differently' come Spring. Dieting and exercising is at a fever pitch trying to get the body beautiful for the following season. People 'decide' to get into shape, workout, get a new hairstyle, buy a new wardrobe, find romance, or something to make life better. They realized (woke to the opinion, fact), the body or look they had/have is not expressing who they REALLY are or hope to be. Maybe the mind seeks this also; rebirth, renewing. Seeing something OLD in a NEW way even though it is still the same thing. If I dieted (not likely), exercised (are you kidding?), changed my hairstyle (yeah, right lol), I would still be Dorothy. I would still be Dorothy, with a healthier, body you now see in a new light which may lead to you wanting to get to know me better (Heeyyyy. I'm not mad at you about it).

    In the garden world being WOKE is not a BAD thing. Why is being WOKE a bad thing in the human arena? A feeling of destruction is attatched to the Woke Culture.

    Woke Culture is defined as: an adjective derived from African American Venacular English (AAVE) meaning "alert to racial prejudice and discrimination." Beginning in the 2010s, it came to encompass a broader awareness of social inequalities such as sexism, and has also been used as shorthand for American Left ideas involving identity politics and social justice, such as the notion of white priveledge and slavery reparations for African Americans. Boo! Sounds scary huh? Racism. discrimination, sexism are the WEEDS of the garden. Funny though, many gardeners like the blooms of many weeds. To them, no plant is a weed. AND THERE YOU HAVE IT!

    But, the truth is, history has already recorded the American experience. It is available for all to research and know. But now, HISTORY is emerging bigger and bolder being seen in a new light. Some of history is weak and sprawling, occupying valuable space that can be used by something healthier. Some of history has grown bigger needing to leave it's confines and to be replanted to grow once more bigger and better, or shared with others to enjoy, and yes, even thrown away because it's time is over, there is no space for it's use. All of this is a PATTERN of existence. We, just as plants, must WAKE up and be WOKE.

    What is painful now in the process of waking up, is a beautiful and natural process experienced in nature. As humans, we hold ourselves above every created thing. Our mind refuse to grasps the concepts that we too are part of a universal pattern. We accept life and death, but AWAKENING, is threatening to us as HISTORY demonstrates from prior awakenings experienced. 

    So to be WOKE is an insult, but what is it to NOT be AWAKE? As I said earlier, maybe I'm rushing Spring. It's only April and the saying goes, "April showers bring May flowers." Maybe I don't even know how long or even when the WOKE process in the garden actually begins or ends. But what I do know is, I don't begin it or end it. It has it's own rhythm defined as a strong, regular, repeated pattern of movement or sound. Awakenings REPEAT in nature and I strongly believe in humans. 

    Another thing about gardens is that the gardener is on the edge of their seat everyday waiting for the plants to wake up and show their true color and form while being woke. They never rail against what  the woke garden may bring. they are ready and waiting for it. They enjoy the newness that comes along WITH the old. Sure, there is an amount of adaptation that occurs in tthe garden, but even that is part of the gardeners journey where learning from experiences abound.

    Woke Culture may be something people recoil from for their own various reasons, but history documents the set in stone human experience is and always will be, times when people WOKE up,