Volaire

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 r

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. You always let them lead you in life, decide what uniform you would wear to school, what to eat, what type of children to hang out with, and how to conduct yourself. There was no independence or separation and everyone was to look the same, act accordingly the same, and believe in the same thing. In cultivating Candide’s garden he eventually took his own steps in to the world, and saw things for himself. I cultivated my garden by graduating and going to a public school to escape one way thinking, and grow as a person. Understanding that this route was maybe not the way for everyone else I had graduated with, but it was about cultivating for me.

wasn’t perfect or great. I focused more on school and how to graduate early, versus who was doing what when and with who where last weekend. I was cultivating my curiosity to grow as a person again, and discover things to do in my life after the high school drama.

Cultivate also explains growth and improvement. So maybe, just maybe Voltaire was t

Some topics in this essay:
Candide Voltaire’s, , garden cultivate, cultivating garden, grow person, people world, words garden cultivate, left confident, own life, words garden, thinking literally, land cultivating, literal meaning,