“Blessed are the hearts that can bend; they shall never be broken.” Albert Camus
What is a Greenstick?
If you had been a product of nature, I am sure you know about greensticks. We used to play with sticks when we were kids. When you want a stick, you break a one from a bush. That is easy, unless it is a greenstick. When you try to break these young sticks, they do not break straight away. They just crack and bend but strongly attached to the rest with some fibers still. Often to break it completely you need to twist it and repeatedly bend.
Why do greensticks do not break?
If you compare a greenstick to a mature branch, you will notice that is due to its consistency. Mature sticks are stronger, but their tensile strength is less. They tend to work better with compression forces but when tension applied, they just snap. I am sure there are many more reasons, and mechanisms behind this however that is not the objective of this article. Objective of this article is to notice the difference of mature stick to a greenstick.
What else are greensticks?
Just like young greensticks, young children are also greensticks. They are having bones inside them, still growing. These bones are not mature, different in consistency than adults, hence they behave like greensticks when applied forces. If a long bone of a forearm of a child is forced to bend in a fall, it might just get a so called "Greenstick fracture". And it is exactly like what happens with greensticks in nature. It just cracks on one side but bends on the other, And fractured parts not completely separated from each other. So, these fractures need minimal interventions in healing.
"Blessed are the hearts that can bend (Greensticks), they shall never be broken"
As you can see although Albert Camus do not talk about greensticks you can appreciate the similarity. If something is bendable it is less likely to fracture. Not only greensticks, but it is also evident when we recently experienced hurricane Milton. The bendable trees did withstand the force of nature while more rigid ones had no choice but to go down. If you would ask an engineer, he would explain how they build these skyscrapers, to withstand wind, and earthquakes, without snapping in the middle which otherwise would be a disaster if happened.
"Blessed are the hearts that can bend, they shall never be broken". This is the wisdom of Albert Camus, on greensticks. Maybe he is referring to the hearts of children. But I would say otherwise, more likely he is referring to hearts "like" children. They have ability to bend, on command, to anyone. They are blessed. And shall never be broken because of inherent resistance it provides against tensile strengths of nature. Just like young bones of growing children, they might make a greenstick fracture, but would heal without a problem, with just rest and good direction.
I can understand many meanings from the quote, and each is equally possible when we consider. Maybe it is empathy that he is referring to, or down to earth nature like a bamboo. Maybe it is nature of someone to follow in a flow. Maybe it is accepting the nature and be at peace. And for each one of us I am sure it means many things. But everything means something good not bad.
How can we be greensticks?
There can be many ways, but one is to observe greensticks. Meaning observing the nature. Using mindfulness as a tool we can observe nature day in and day out. And try to understand our world and ourselves and realize the incredible capacity of the "Lump of clay" which we call ourselves. Then day by day I am sure we will start to feel like greensticks against forces of nature, until we become so greenstick that we would be called "Water" and start to take the shape of every cup that life has to offer. And we will blend with nature, or more correctly speaking, realize that we are the nature in the first place. I am sure Albert Camus did not mean us to get a meaning so deep from his quote, and he would feel a stranger on his own novel. Yet I think we can, and we should, think beyond words.
Broken twig
Old twig stood so proud
With all the medals of fungi on its shoulders
When it hugged the ground with rest of the twigs
He was a hero among ordinary in peace at last
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