symbiotic hope

 Mr. Rogers is famous for guidance during crisis in saying “look for the helpers”. This mantra has certainly been at the forefront of many people’s thoughts during the last 18 months or more. And more often than not, “helpers” turned up in the form of front line workers, teachers, therapists, and farmers, to name but a few! I am blessed by some helpers who became more evident and supportive than expected when I looked, like my mother from a distance, a zoom poetry group which met every week since mid-March 2020, and people who responded from afar via email or FaceTime serendipitously. I got the sense that so many people not only have needs but need to be needed. 

I think of these helper blessings often and recently have done so in connection with my new fascination with the understories of trees. I found myself caught up by the notion of symbiotic relationships, in biology and in humanity. 

Symbiosis is defined as the interaction of two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both. Mutually beneficial. 

Mutuality is often lost in the helper/helpee relationship. We tend to focus on the imbalance. Yet upon closer examination it can be, and has been recently, mutually beneficial. In the Mr. Rogers’ sense “helpers” want to be found!

In the understory of trees sense fungi can be the deliverer of remediation to a tree or an entirely different species can come to the assistance of a strange one. 

Look for the helpers might be extended then to look also for the needs to be met. When helper and helpee meet, well, symbiotic hope results.