Nâzım Hikmet

Hikmet’s Squirrel and the Art of Living

Finally, the squirrel points outward. Scatter‑hoarders inadvertently plant forests when forgotten caches sprout; responsibility ripples into renewal (see Vander Wall, The Evolutionary Ecology of Nut Dispersal, 2001). In the same way, our careful living—showing up for neighbors, teaching, repairing, voting, tending the planet—has effects we will never fully see. Hikmet’s command is therefore ecological and civic: take life seriously enough that your daily acts become seeds. And then, when joy arrives, be nimble enough to chase it across the branches. [...]