Once upon a time, there was a woman who took great care in keeping her yard tidy. Day in and day out, she could be seen sweeping or raking. One morning, a neighbor stopped to converse with her. He couldn’t help but notice how committed she was to taking care of her property and inquired as to why she was so diligent. Leaning on her broom, she shared with him the idea that leaves are everywhere, just like problems, and neither have addresses, but they both need to be taken care of. “Don’t leave the leaves,” she said. The woman explained that no one was responsible for the leaves falling or for where they landed. The same could be said about problems.
“Just like leaves, problems land on every doorstep. They might blown away, but they’re never gone for good. They always come back.” Her advice was to take care of what’s in front of you, so each time a problem returned, there was less of it to deal with.”
He observed that not everyone on the block cared as much. “Perhaps that’s true,” replied the woman. She pointed out that she was only responsible for keeping her portion of the street clean. “But if my neighbors benefit from my efforts, why would I mind?” The passerby nodded, and they said their goodbyes. He pondered the woman’s wisdom and decided that he, too, would commit to keeping his part of the street cleaner. Like leaves, problems were everywhere. He could ignore them, or he could be a part of the solution and take responsibility for what came his way. Like his neighbor said, “Don’t leave the leaves.”
