From the Ground Up.

Reading, From the Ground Up, I was introduced to many good ideas. I have to say though, I did judge a book by its cover. I never really had any thoughts one way or the other on gardening before joining the UEL cohort. I was inspired by the passion for gardening Brynn and Alex brought to the group. And looking at the cover of this book I thought it may have a bit to do with gardening, and it had nothing. But after reading it I understand why the author or publisher choose the photo. A seed can have a hard time from the get go depending on where it is planted. It needs water and access to the sun for photosynthesis, with out these it will die. I saw correlation between this and people in dead end jobs where rules were pushed upon them from the “higher ups.” The flower on the cover also spoke to me because everyone has a general understanding of how it grows, no matter what language we speak. It can bring people of different cultures and languages together but still get the point across. The flower on the front reminded me of page 22 a paragraph called, “Individual Empowerment or Collective Action.” I have to agree that if an individual is incapable of change, an institution can not change. When individuals are willing to adapt and change for the greater good, it seems that a SCO would become unstoppable. I think the hardest part would be getting individuals to believe that they could become part of something larger, something that would cause a great change. So then I was wondering…is it really from the ground up? To me it would take a strong leader for individuals to trust and look up to encouraging change. So maybe its from the top down? Or maybe its not a direction at all, maybe people just need to believe in themselves.