In the Garden of the World be a Sunflower

“Keep your face always towards the sunshine – and the shadows will fall behind you.”

– Walt Whitman

According to Quote Investigator, one of my all-time favourite quotes was attributed to Walt Whitman in 1919. But, this may have occurred because a confusion of names. The first time this statement was heard in the Whitman family, it was made by M. B. Whitman in 1903. Apparently, in 1910, the saying was repeated and was said to have come from a Whitman but there were no initials accompanying the accreditation.

The researchers at Q.I. makemention of references to the different variations of this quote dating back as far as 1850, where it was seen in a poem by Charles Swain. In the 1920’s, Helen Keller added to the expression: “Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. It’s what sunflowers do.” I had no idea, until I read this article, that Keller had said that about sunflowers. When I see sunflowers, I feel this quote. Even on the ground, alone in a field of green, or in a full pasture; sunflowers seek the sun. They look for the positive. The shadows are behind them and they turn towards what they need – what they are seeking; Darkness, uncertainty, and needlessness they turn away from.

To whomever said it, I am grateful for to have this hopeful, inspiring quote. In the garden of the world, I want to be a sunflower. I want to chase the sun and ignore the shadows. The reading I ended up doing on this quote made me realize that I’m among the many who draw strength and calm from this quotation.

Read the full article at Quote Investigator: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2019/03/05/sunshine/

These pictures were taken on our family trip to the Sunflower Fields Ice Cream Shoppe in Picton, Ontario.