From the Editor
Good Timber
Luis Ayala
In the November 2020 issue of “Got Rum?” I wrote about the importance of “preparing for winter,” both metaphorically and literally. Little did I know back then that a couple of months later Texas would be hit by a devastating (by our standards) winter storm, which most of us had to face without electricity or water, with indoor temperatures near the freezing point for days and days.
Time has the power that allows for wounds to heal and for memories -especially the unpleasant ones- to fade. “Preparing for winter” remains an urgent call I would like to make once again. This time, however, the “winter” I am referring to is not the literal cold weather that comes to mind when we hear the word. I am referring instead to adversity in general. Author Douglas Malloch put it best in his poem “Good Timber”:
The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.
The man who never had to toil
To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.
Good timber does not grow with ease,
The stronger wind, the stronger trees,
The further sky, the greater length,
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.
Where thickest lies the forest growth
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life.
We, as individuals, need to be made of “good timber,” in order to support ourselves, our families and our communities. Challenges and adversity are here to stay, let’s not give them the power to rule over us.
Cheers!
Luis Ayala,
Editor and Publisher