"Be the reason someone believes in the goodness of people."
- Anonymous
In
my almost thirty years of living in New York City I've encountered many
remarkable and inspirational people. Some have influenced my career choices and greatly added to the quality of my life. I've also made many mistakes, vapid, ingenuous acquaintances and dealt with parasitic individuals that have taught me the value of my time and with
whom to share and limit it. Hopefully, I learn and grow wiser with each
blunder.
An ocean of marigolds in multiple hexagonal raised beds near Surfside Community Garden
And then there is Mr Quinones, one of the most selfless beings I have ever met. In 2013 - 2014, the year I spent designing and installing edible and habitat gardens in Coney Island, I came to know this man very well. The neighborhood was rebounding from the trauma of Hurricane Sandy and school gardens were welcome therapeutic upgrades. Quinones walked by one day while I was moving lumber and wrangling a group of young men, some of whom spent more time on phones than with tools, complaining all the while and disappearing for long, multiple breaks. We chatted a bit and he became excited about the benefits that the gardens would add to the school and neighborhood. From that day onward Quinones became my regular unpaid helper.
Quinones at P.S.188 in 2014
I am the kind of person who often gets so absorbed in whatever I am working on at the moment that I forget to eat lunch or go to the bathroom. The clock, Ha! Forget about it! I once worked on a project for 36 straight hours before going to bed. Plants, gardens and landscapes are my passion and I have volunteered many thousands hours, worked through lunch breaks and unpaid hours and have invested my own limited resources for the success of projects when budgets are less than adequate. I've been told that I am too passionate, driven and dedicated and that my work ethics make others look bad. Really? Huh. Yeah, I seriously need to adjust my work habits. I need to care less, not so as to make others look less bad, but for my own health. I sometimes think things would be so much easier if I did not give a damn about doing what I know to be right. I am learning that sometimes saving oneself is better than trying to save the world, or not-worthy-of-my-time others.
Yet I do not necessarily want to change the fact that I expect others to do the jobs they are paid to do, or at least attempt to do their jobs. I have my mother's energy but I am my father's daughter, which means that I regard doing far less than one is paid to do as something akin to stealing, and I suffer fools better than I do slackers and dishonest folks. During my time working in Coney Island I grew utterly conflicted over the ethics of many of the people I needed to work with to create my first edible gardens. I had worked in advertising for almost fifteen years and had encountered my share of unethical characters, but this was a new breed of lackadaisical, incompetent and downright pernicious characters, both at the management and at the ground level. Maybe something was in the air (or soil), as I also experienced jaw-dropping duplicity among hired help and a client on another project during the same period. One meets all types of people in horticulture, advertising and other industries, as in one's personal life. As much as I hate to admit it, I am learning to lower my expectations.
Quinones spent countless unpaid hours schlepping his tools to help me drill and cut wood, plant perennials and herbs and move tons of soil. His cultivator and other tools are still buried among garden tools in the shed of the last school I worked at. Understanding my commitment to get the job done despite the limited time and resources, Quinones dug up and transported wheelbarrows of marigolds and sunflowers that he had started growing in his own community garden plot to beautify school grounds at P.S.289. Like my mom whenever I worked in her garden in Trinidad, he kept me hydrated with bottles of water and fruit drinks. Some days, even when I saw that he was totally exhausted and could do no more, he stayed around, often with the hose in hand, so that I was not alone long after the school gates closed. We worked together for many (unpaid) hours each evening after all other staff were gone and often until it was too dark to continue.
Eco-Habitat garden at P.S.188
Quinones
reminded me that there were others around who are passionate about
beauty and affecting the way children and adults respond to the natural
world. Once, when I was hasty and about to plant pole beans, Quinones
suggested that I save that chore for the kids and have them wait to
watch the stems race up the poles. The joy on his face was so obvious as
he said the words. Of course he was so right. Though he was not a
teacher, Quinones was more excited about inspiring kids than the paid
staff. What do you say of someone who works tirelessly to build and
improve community and individual lives and for no pay? He never asked
for anything and never complained. The man was a bundle of generosity
and positive energy.
Sunflowers near the main entrance of P.S.289. Plants were transplanted from Quionnes' garden when they were about 2' tall.
One of Quinones' projects was constructing multiple raised beds for the members of a community garden in Coney Island. He was recruiting some young men to assist him and he was relentless in his pursuit of finding paying jobs for them. He understood that youth needed to be rewarded for their efforts and that reasonable wages would improve their attitude about employment and the environment. Quinones was also on a mission to unify discordant members of the community garden so that no one member or group had a monopoly on the space. It was a vexing and sometimes risky role he had undertaken, but he had been struggling to build the garden for too long to let it go without a fight. When he was not gardening, helping elders in the Surfside garden or making fencing for a garden in one of the many public housing developments in the neighborhood, or beautifying some once-a-dump-site, he attended NYCCGC meetings and courtroom sessions in solidarity with other gardeners, fighting to retain ownership of cherished community gardens. With all that he still found time to stop by and offer helping hands. I often needed all six of them.
Quinones of Coney Island was my savior, my inspiration and cheerleader when I wanted to throw in the towel or throw a trowel. He reminded me that the world is full of people on the road to self-preservation who will do what they will. Some may wish others fail and even deliberately throw obstacles in their paths. Other people will stand by, watch and take undue credit if they could. He urged me to be undeterred, to never let anyone get in the way of my passion for gardening, doing good work and for doing good. On a recent trip to Coney Island I found Quinones at it, weeding and clearing debris to repair and plant the hexagonal raised beds in a sitting area just outside his community garden. Despite his ailing health, he remains undaunted.
If you make a trip to Coney island and notice masses of marigolds and sunflowers growing in front of schools and along sidewalks, they were most likely the handiwork of Quinones. The world is a better place because he lives in it and the neighborhood of Coney Island will forever be in his debt. I am privileged to have spent time with this constant gardener and extraordinary human being. He deserves many awards, my undying gratitude and support in all his endeavours. Cheers!
