He was a young man who farmed in the Netherlands and he had spent most of his time weeding.
While I would love to make my work this week into an allegory of Hemingway's novel, I cannot. It was a different kind of journey, emotionally challenging in its own right but not within the framework of Old Man and the Sea. Instead, I will tell my story without such a literary ploy but with reference to how the book helped me persevere. Throughout the week, one thought of Santiago's (the Old Man) rang through my head: "Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready." My thoughts don't have the same abbreviated sentence structure but replace "exact" with "willing" and there you have my mantra so far this week.
On Tuesday morning (the start of my work week), Gert Jan sent Chiel and I to weed the strawberry field, the farm's largest field. This assignment was worse than the routine weeding though: another laborer had previously been assigned this job and made a complete mess of it. He meandered through the field, pulling only the largest weeds and then throwing them on top of the strawberry plants, so my job became cleaning his mess whilst also weeding the smaller, more difficult weeds. Immediately, Chiel began complaining about the task at hand. The enormity of the field combined with the meticulousness it required was infuriating and I succumbed to the urge to commiserate. For the first half hour, we complained, then made a plan, then got to work. But suddenly, Gert Jan pulled Chiel away and I was left alone to weed the massive field. While a certain Beatles song was running on repeat in my head, I got on my hands and knees and contemptuously pulled roots from the ground for the next hour and a half.
But good news came once I went on break: Gert Jan reassigned me to shovel wood chips with Chiel and another local named Jeroen. I gratefully accepted the change and got to work shoveling wood chips into the back of a trailer, driving the tractor to another site, and shoveling them out of said trailer. For the rest of the day we happily did this task, laughing with one another and being grateful we were not in the strawberry field.
It was taxing but rewarding work, with each shovel-full the mound of wood chips got smaller and we shared a sense of productivity which weeding does not yield. By the end of the day, we were all tired but happy, knowing we accomplished something and enjoying each other's company.
That night while reading, I found a sentence that resonated with me. At one point in his fight, Santiago thought "keep your head clear and know how to suffer like a man." With that in mind, I entered the next day, knowing I would be shoveling wood chips for six more hours but willing and excited to do so. However, Chiel and Jeroen didn't have the same mindset and instantly began bemoaning the task at hand. Our job was no different than the day before- shovel wood chips into the back of a trailer, drive the tractor to another site, and shovel them out of said trailer- but suddenly they were morose about it. It wasn't easy and I wasn't happy the entire time (I have a bone bruise that has swelled to the size of a cherry on my hand from accidentally slamming on the corner of the tractor) but I thought about the drudgery of the strawberry field and decided to find satisfaction with my current duty. The day came and went, as did the wood chips from one site to the other.
The next morning, I awoke ready to finish the job only to find out from Gert Jan that I would be doing something else. Much to my chagrin, I left Jeroen and Chiel and went with Camille 1 to the fields. But on this day I was lucky: I harvested corn, made a bouquet of mangold, sowed seeds for "green manure", and manured zucchini plants, among other things. It was an incredibly interesting day, I talked to Gert Jan about feeding soil with the correct nutrients and how he planned crop rotations all while doing a litany of different tasks, neither of which I hadn't done in the preceding days. The best part was that at the end, I got to see my wood chip job through to completion by helping Chiel and Jeroen with the last load. It was the exactly the type of day I envisioned when I signed up to work at Hof van Twello and it left me with an overwhelming sense of satisfaction: my willingness to perform whatever Gert Jan asked had resulted in incredible luck!
That luck quickly went away; I spent all six hours of today's shift weeding the strawberry field. However, the difference between today and Tuesday is that my willingness remained: even though I had a task I disliked, I was ready to perform it and therefore found it much more rewarding. The six hours didn't pass as quickly as they did alongside Chiel and Jeroen while shoveling wood chips, but they passed and I left the day with a sense of satisfaction which rivaled the day before.
Tonight I walked the farm's barefoot trail, a tourist attraction which brings a lot of families to the farm. During the day, it's filled with kids playing in the mud but at night it was very peaceful. On my stroll, I reflected about the what I discovered this past week, what I valued in the character of Santiago, and what I wanted to learn from this adventure abroad.
While sitting on a bench alongside the path, a quote from the book came to mind: "'a man is not made for defeat' he said 'A man can be destroyed but not defeated.'" This week destroyed me both physically and mentally; having to shovel wood chips for two consecutive days blows the toll of my rowing days out of the water and a day alone in thought while weeding did not clear my mind. But it did not defeat me, I rose to every challenge I was given willful and determined.
The thing I most admired about Santiago is that, even after all trouble he endured, he probably went out fishing the next day, ready to face whatever the sea had to throw at him. I do not have that same spirit, but during my time here I want to try to develop it.
Which brings me to what I want to learn. I thoroughly believe that with each day, we as humans have the ability to reinvent ourselves and that who we are is not determined by our past actions but by our present efforts. So each day I am going to make a concerted effort to be kind, to be fair, and to be optimistic. While I accept the flaws I have, such as my lack of Santiago's determination, I can work towards becoming a better person than who I was the day before. And so I'll work on this farm, doing whatever Gert Jan asks, but I'll also be working on myself, striving to reflect the virtues I value and refusing to be defeated.
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| Here I am, being outstanding in my field. |
On Tuesday morning (the start of my work week), Gert Jan sent Chiel and I to weed the strawberry field, the farm's largest field. This assignment was worse than the routine weeding though: another laborer had previously been assigned this job and made a complete mess of it. He meandered through the field, pulling only the largest weeds and then throwing them on top of the strawberry plants, so my job became cleaning his mess whilst also weeding the smaller, more difficult weeds. Immediately, Chiel began complaining about the task at hand. The enormity of the field combined with the meticulousness it required was infuriating and I succumbed to the urge to commiserate. For the first half hour, we complained, then made a plan, then got to work. But suddenly, Gert Jan pulled Chiel away and I was left alone to weed the massive field. While a certain Beatles song was running on repeat in my head, I got on my hands and knees and contemptuously pulled roots from the ground for the next hour and a half.
But good news came once I went on break: Gert Jan reassigned me to shovel wood chips with Chiel and another local named Jeroen. I gratefully accepted the change and got to work shoveling wood chips into the back of a trailer, driving the tractor to another site, and shoveling them out of said trailer. For the rest of the day we happily did this task, laughing with one another and being grateful we were not in the strawberry field.
It was taxing but rewarding work, with each shovel-full the mound of wood chips got smaller and we shared a sense of productivity which weeding does not yield. By the end of the day, we were all tired but happy, knowing we accomplished something and enjoying each other's company.
That night while reading, I found a sentence that resonated with me. At one point in his fight, Santiago thought "keep your head clear and know how to suffer like a man." With that in mind, I entered the next day, knowing I would be shoveling wood chips for six more hours but willing and excited to do so. However, Chiel and Jeroen didn't have the same mindset and instantly began bemoaning the task at hand. Our job was no different than the day before- shovel wood chips into the back of a trailer, drive the tractor to another site, and shovel them out of said trailer- but suddenly they were morose about it. It wasn't easy and I wasn't happy the entire time (I have a bone bruise that has swelled to the size of a cherry on my hand from accidentally slamming on the corner of the tractor) but I thought about the drudgery of the strawberry field and decided to find satisfaction with my current duty. The day came and went, as did the wood chips from one site to the other.
The next morning, I awoke ready to finish the job only to find out from Gert Jan that I would be doing something else. Much to my chagrin, I left Jeroen and Chiel and went with Camille 1 to the fields. But on this day I was lucky: I harvested corn, made a bouquet of mangold, sowed seeds for "green manure", and manured zucchini plants, among other things. It was an incredibly interesting day, I talked to Gert Jan about feeding soil with the correct nutrients and how he planned crop rotations all while doing a litany of different tasks, neither of which I hadn't done in the preceding days. The best part was that at the end, I got to see my wood chip job through to completion by helping Chiel and Jeroen with the last load. It was the exactly the type of day I envisioned when I signed up to work at Hof van Twello and it left me with an overwhelming sense of satisfaction: my willingness to perform whatever Gert Jan asked had resulted in incredible luck!
That luck quickly went away; I spent all six hours of today's shift weeding the strawberry field. However, the difference between today and Tuesday is that my willingness remained: even though I had a task I disliked, I was ready to perform it and therefore found it much more rewarding. The six hours didn't pass as quickly as they did alongside Chiel and Jeroen while shoveling wood chips, but they passed and I left the day with a sense of satisfaction which rivaled the day before.
Tonight I walked the farm's barefoot trail, a tourist attraction which brings a lot of families to the farm. During the day, it's filled with kids playing in the mud but at night it was very peaceful. On my stroll, I reflected about the what I discovered this past week, what I valued in the character of Santiago, and what I wanted to learn from this adventure abroad.
While sitting on a bench alongside the path, a quote from the book came to mind: "'a man is not made for defeat' he said 'A man can be destroyed but not defeated.'" This week destroyed me both physically and mentally; having to shovel wood chips for two consecutive days blows the toll of my rowing days out of the water and a day alone in thought while weeding did not clear my mind. But it did not defeat me, I rose to every challenge I was given willful and determined.
The thing I most admired about Santiago is that, even after all trouble he endured, he probably went out fishing the next day, ready to face whatever the sea had to throw at him. I do not have that same spirit, but during my time here I want to try to develop it.
Which brings me to what I want to learn. I thoroughly believe that with each day, we as humans have the ability to reinvent ourselves and that who we are is not determined by our past actions but by our present efforts. So each day I am going to make a concerted effort to be kind, to be fair, and to be optimistic. While I accept the flaws I have, such as my lack of Santiago's determination, I can work towards becoming a better person than who I was the day before. And so I'll work on this farm, doing whatever Gert Jan asks, but I'll also be working on myself, striving to reflect the virtues I value and refusing to be defeated.
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