Golden Rule Plus One

I finally broke down and bought a copy of one of my favorite picture books through Amazon Marketplace. Not only do I love the hauntingly beautiful artwork, but the way it works as a subtle parable about power, privilege, and otherness. It's not enough to assume you know best and to treat others the way you would want to be treated, which means defining them by your own paradigms and frameworks. Instead you must learn to respect the other enough to really pay attention, listen, and learn, and let them have the power to define themselves. Treat them as they want to be treated.

Plantpet, by Elise Primavera


Bertie lived alone and liked it that way. His junkyard was high on a hill.


One day when he was out looking at his junk, he found a tiny plant in a cage.

TURN THIS CAGE DAILY the instructions read.

"I never had a plant before," Bertie said. He took it home.


Bertie turned the cage every day. Every day the plant grew and changed.


In fact it changed so much that when Bertie opened the cage to give it more room, it walked out all on its own.

"What are you anyway!" Bertie cried. "A plant or a pet?"

But it just kept on going out the door and into the garden.


It seemed to like to dig. Bertie knelt down to help.

"You need a name," Bertie said. "I'll call you Plantpet."

Side by side in the long-neglected garden, Bertie and Plantpet weeded and watered, planted and pruned.


Every day they worked together in the warm sun. The garden grew and changed.

"I never had a pet before," Bertie said. "Good boy, good boy."


Finally the garden bloomed. It was absolutely beautiful and Bertie was proud of it. "Suits me just fine," he said.

But Plantpet kept on digging.


"No! No!" Bertie cried. "Bad boy! Bad boy! No dig hole! Hole bad!" Bertie shouted.

But Plantpet kept on digging a hole--a Big hole . . .


. . . until finally Bertie gave up and took it to the farthest corner of the garden. "Stay," he said.




Now every day Bertie worked in his garden alone. But it just wasn't the same. Something was missing.

He raced back to the farthest corner of the garden.


"My poor little friend," he cried. Bertie gently picked up Plantpet and they went home.


Bertie dug a hole. He placed his friend inside it.

"Here's some warm dirt to cover your toes," Bertie said. "And here's a drink of water."


Plantpet grew and changed.

Sometimes Bertie worked in the garden and his friend watched.


And sometimes they rested together, which suited them both just fine.