Treasure, Alice Walker
Meditation
To treasure. To have treasure. The form, noun or verb, changes the connotation of the word “treasure”. As a noun, a treasure is an object to possess. As a verb, the sense is “to hold dear”. Or, change the tense. “Let us demand to be treasured”—to be held dear, to see each other and ourselves as worthy of being held dear.
What do we treasure? Surely Alice Walker hears the voice of scripture, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Even on the best of days it may be difficult to choose the path of tenderness. But to choose the path of tenderness is to treasure others, even to the point of “consciously embracing every glowing soul who wanders within our reach.” An impossible task that demands of us the impossible nonetheless.
In treasuring others we treasure ourselves. In demanding to be treasured we banish the spirit of meanness and exclusivity that haunts us, and that prompts us to haunt others. Let us be treasures to one another, sharing not in what is mean, but in the riches of what is dear.
Todd Breyfogle, Denver, Colorado
