Before I begin, I would like to clearly define three words garden, cultivate, and literally. Gar-den: plot of ground where flowers, vegetables, herbs, or other small plants are cultivated. Cul-ti-vate: to prepare and use (land) for raising crops. Lit-er-al-ly: for all practical purposes; in effect; virtually.
Last time I checked I did not have a garden and I did not have any land that I was cultivating. As you can see, I was lost in a predicament trying to discover the meaning of these two words (garden and cultivate) and how they related to me. I thought, I thought, then I thought some more, and I was still lost. I decided to start from ground zero and re-analyze the whole story to see where that would take me. I did this so I could some how make sense of why I was even trying to understand the words garden and cultivate. I came to the conclusion that I was thinking too literally.
There are so many moments in time, places in life, and situations that no one makes sense of because they are thinking too literally. I came to understand that maybe garden and cultivate had more than just a literal meaning, but also a more underneath the surface type of meaning. Garden can relate to your life and things you care about. .
Hovanic 2.
Cultivate also explains growth and improvement. So maybe, just maybe Voltaire was telling me to grow or do whatever I feel is going to improve my own life and to not listen to other people. Realizing this sent me on another expedition to think of things in my life that I cared about and could relate cultivating my garden to literally.
The moment I went against my mother, I recalled Candide in Voltaire's story and how he was always listening to other people, letting them make decisions for him, and never truly having an opinion of his own. I related this to going to a private school, kindergarten threw eighth grade, where you always listened to what the teachers, adults, pastors, and especially nuns said.
