FredL

Wonderful subject, Al. Thanx for raising it.

When I got the bonsai bug, I was 12 or 13 years old. During my life, I started working with bonsai three different times before this time, which I expect will last the rest of my life. Once, I quit because I became so discouraged with my failure to get any results because of my lack of knowledge. Twice, I made major moves and couldn't figure out how to move my collection. This time, my life has become stable and I have the knowledge to be successful. So, I'm "going for it".

Raising the question that Al raises: Going for what?

Based on what I've seen on the inter-net, I think I have rather different associations and images associated with Bonsai than those of the thought-leaders in our community. My first impressions of Bonsai was that it was a sort of Japanese folk-art with its roots in the veneration of tradition, ancestors and others things Japanese. Something we poopoo in Western circles was to me very significant: the age of the trees and the fact they'd been under cultivation for decades if not centuries, The image of something alive and beautiful being handed down over the generations had a huge impact on my young mind.

If you asked me what picture comes to my mind when Bonsai is mentioned, it is the incredibly beautiful Japanese countryside and the little farming villages where a few or several bonsai might be found in a farm-house courtyard.

These images invoke in me certain feelings, attitudes, visions of what I might create that are very far indeed from the spirit of competition that seems to pervade Western Bonsai. Well, Bonsai generally, I suppose. I probably have it wrong just as much in respect to modern Bonsai culture in Japan as anywhere else!

I like Bonsai shows very much, but, until recently, I didn't associate them with the spirit of competition. Until recently, I thought of them as being primarily ways to introduce these beautiful creations to the general public and make available our love for it to the kindred spirits who might also enjoy it. Also, to enjoy the beauty that our fellow bonsaists had created and enjoy fellowship with them. I felt that the prizes that were awarded were meant to express appreciation for special creations and had little if anything to do with competition.

I believe in competition as an excellent way towards improving products in a free market economy. I believe in competition in athletics. I do not believe in the virtues of competition in every realm of life.

For many years, I was a very serious distance runner. I had been a runner in college, but gave it up for many years. It was not until I developed a vision of it as a non-competitive activity, valuable and enjoyable in its own right, that I returned to it. I actually was running faster times in my 40s than when I'd been in college, but it was not in response to the pressures of competition. It was out of love for the activity itself.

I have the greatest respect for the genius of people like Walter. I feel honored to be a member of their community. I'm not particularly interested in competing with them or anybody, however.

Best regards, Fred