When granite stone arrived in our property to build the above wall, I was drawn by the strength the sones collectively create to support the large mass of earth and its vegetations.
After the above wall was built, I got even more fascinated by the multiple strength giving functions of stones ! The individual stone by itself is strong, but when brought together, the strength is multiplied.
During a holiday, I decided to notice the different functions, the stones serve in a community.
The following photos highlight some of those functions.
The first is that of a mountain range formed by a mass of stones, in existence for hundreds of years.
The second one is a hill formed by a mass of stones.
The third is a rock formation in the plane, which is often the site for introducing trainees to mountain climbing.
The fourth photo is of stone as an ingredient in road making, by the using blue metals, the crushed form of stones.
The fifth is the support wall made of stones to protect land located in a higher plane.
The six and seventh Photos are examples of using stones in creating walls, terracing the land with them and supporting them with stone walls and steps for pedestrian path.
Th eighth photo is how the stone formation separates the land mass from the sea.
The ninth photo is an illustration of how the stones protect the beach from sea erosion.
The tenth is a stone barrier to tame the high tide entering into the proximate land.
The eleventh photo is, how a rock formation provides a waterfall perennially, in a wooded area and prevent the soil from waterlogged.
The eleventh is the stone wall built to create a lake for preserving water life!
The twelfth photo is a collection of pooled stones, to protect the stone formation behind from being exposed to water all the time, as the lime stone rock formation seems to have vulnerability to loose strength when it is in too much contact with salty sea water.
The thirteenth is a photo of how stones support artificially created island, from the fury of the sea through the backwaters.
At the end of a long walk, when Anna and I came to the above site at the one end of the garden, we realised, how it was the stone that was undergirding the land, soil, and vegetations.
The undergirding of the stones is a silent function which stones offer wherever they are placed!
What is this undergirding in its human equivalent!
A home has an undergirding role and function.
The parents provide the undergirding for their children. The parents provide, enable, embrace, and equip children. The stones give strength and do not just occupy space.
I wonder whether all parents recognise this role and function of bringing the enabling and enlarging function to the lives of their children!
The other vulnerable group in a home would be senior citizens. How much are they made to feel supported by those who are endowed with the undergirding role and function!
I come back to parents! We are parents by choice and obligation. If so, bringing children into our focus in a greater measure is what I feel is needed in the contemporary times.
Their formation and unfolding to be adults with fullness of purpose is the primary role and function of parenting vocation!
The stones undergird the earth in multiple ways.
A home serves a similar undergirding function to children, when parents live with this calling!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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