The Life-Changing Peanut
Article by Carter Cada - Written 7/20/2023
He held it up close to his eyes, examining it once more.
Exasperated, he sighed, and set the nut down on his table. Days, it had been; and he was still no closer to his goal than when he’d locked himself down here. “And” he verbalized to himself, “I ain’t goin’ nowhere until I figure what you’re good for, little friend” he said, picking up a handful of peanuts.
He popped the whole handful into his mouth, and began to chew: shell and all. “They’re good for eating, at the very least” he thought to himself as he chewed. And a good thing, too; peanuts were the only thing he’d eaten since he came down here.
Several days prior, he had locked himself into his lab of a basement, determined to not come out until he had discovered a way to make this little nut useful. Snack finished, he lifted another nut from the basket on his desk, and squinting at it, he sighed. It seemed like an impossible task.
It was funny, he thought, how the smallest things could make such life-shattering changes. Another little thing was mainly why he was down here in the first place: the Boll Weevil. The little bug from Mexico had swept into the Southern United States, and was wreaking havoc on the economy.
Most farmers in that part of the country grew cotton, a favored food of choice for the Boll Weevil. Because of this, many fledgling farmers, just having come into land ownership for the first time, were being thrust back into poverty.
The thought made him wince. Some time ago, he’d tried to reason with many of them. He warned them that the bug would come, and that they needed a different crop. Peanuts were what he had recommended, and scorn was all he received in return.
Peanuts were a snack for pigs, and maybe children, many had told him. They had no practical use; why bother growing them when cotton is so lucrative? Yet, his concern for these farmers was so great that he had determined ahead of time neither hell, high water, nor heckling would stop him from doing his part.
A lesser man may have given in then; after all, why help those who see you as a joke? Yet, the thought of quitting rarely occurred to him. He had been defeated so, so many times on the road here. This? This was nothing.
It was all these things that brought him to his lab of a basement, locked away with baskets and baskets of peanuts. If others thought these peanuts were useless, he was just going to have to find a way to prove them wrong.
He took up a peanut once more. If he was going to have any chance of discovering its secrets, he was going to have to turn to the source of his inspiration. “Mr. Creator, will you tell me why the peanut was made?” He spoke aloud. He could almost hear the answer. Smiling, he put himself to work.
It wasn’t until several more days later that he emerged from his lab, a beaming smile across his face. When he set out to find a use for the peanut, he hadn’t expected to come back with three hundred. He was ecstatic. No one would have thought that when, as a child, he was traded for a horse, he would have amounted to something like this.
Yet, here was George Washington Carver, now a free man, and giving back to the world more than it ever could have deserved. Smiling to himself, he began listing the ideas that had come to him. He wasn’t done yet; there was much, much more to come.
Against all reason, George W. Carver made it his life goal to give back to a world that gave little to him.
George W. Carver
Maybe you’ve heard the name; maybe you even know the story: the slave boy who grew into one of the most prominent scientists of his age. But how did this come to be? More importantly, why did Carver chose to spend his life serving those who, in his youngers years, had never served Him?
Slavery wasn’t the only way people had tried to prevent Carver’s greatness: heckling, harassment, and rejection were a part of daily life for Carver. So what motivated him? Why did he do what he did?
Perhaps most importantly, what was the secret to his success?
Why George Washington Carver?
I was a young teen when I first read about George Washington Carver. At the time, I didn’t think too much of the story. Sure, I was inspired by it, but at that age, I didn’t yet understand the significance of what he had done.
I understood the content, sure: a brilliant man had a desire to use peanuts (and sweet potatoes) to revitalize southern economy after the Boll Weevil, his hope being that he could help his countrymen to lift themselves out of poverty.
Along the way, he was rejected and persecuted for his color, even after it was decreed he could not be enslaved for the color of his skin. It’s a life I don’t think many people would envy.
In one sense, that was the significance of his life: he climbed to the top from the bottom, made discoveries that changed the world, helped his countrymen, and died as he lived, helping others.
To look at his life like this, from the secular aspect, would be to miss what was truly significant about his life. It was something I wouldn’t discover until years later.
I have never been persecuted. I also think people use the word very, very incorrectly. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen more than my fair share of troubles; but I don’t believe I have ever been persecuted. Why?
Persecution essentially is defined as mistreatment or hostility based on ethnic, religious, and moral ground. If that were all that there was to it, then yes, I’ve been persecuted. But that isn’t all there is to it.
Persecution is a way of life. Persecution is the silent hostility you receive every time you go into public. Persecution is the widespread rejection of your way of life or background. Persecution is being the target for acts of violence, again, and again, and again.
Persecution is not having the cashier be rude to you at the store, or not getting one of the burgers you ordered. And, sure, while that might seem funny, I have met a lot of people who seem to think that is persecution.
Slavery is amongst the most deplorable deeds ever committed by mankind. This is real persecution.
Why do I bring this up? We have gotten to a place where hearing the testimony of a “persecuted” individual can make us roll our eyes, wondering what we’re going to hear next. Maybe they didn’t get the manager soon enough.
However, we shouldn’t let situations like these detract from stories of real persecution. Stories like those of the believers in the Middle East, or the plight of the Jews in early-modern Russia. Stories, too, like that of George Washington Carver.
Within the understanding of true persecution lies the real significance of Carver’s contributions to the world. Not only did he have to surmount impossible odds to reach never-before attained scientific knowledge and convince an entire culture (that had been centered around a single crop for over a hundred years) to change their way of living, thinking, and main source of income, but he had to do it while people from all sides actively tried to bring him down.
As a young teen, I never could have grasped exactly why a person would do that. Most people wouldn’t help an enemy, and very few would continue to help if they were ungrateful; but how many would help an ungrateful enemy who is actively trying to stop you from helping?
What force could have compelled Carver to serve others like this? It certainly wasn’t money. Though he made a small fortune, he spent almost none of it, and, at his death, the remaining amount was donated.
So what motivated him? To put it in his own words:
“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.”
Who was George W. Carver?
On an unrecorded date in 1864, a child was born into slavery. While the date may have been unrecorded, it was not unremarkable. George’s life, from the very beginning, was hardship.
His father passed before he was born, and not even a month after coming into the world, he, his sister, and his mother were kidnapped by raiders.
Moses Carver, their enslaver, sent men to try to rescue the trio, but were only able to retrieve George. Being moved with compassion for the infant, Moses Carver and his wife took the child as their own. After slavery was abolished, they officially made George their son.
As a child, George had a constant thirst for knowledge. One of his greatest childhood friends was his schoolteacher, who taught him the value of using knowledge to give back to others. This message went with him throughout his life.
After bouncing around for a bit, he landed in Minneapolis, where, due to confusion with the local post office, he chose the middle name “Washington” to distinguish himself from another George Carver.
Eventually, after multiple rejections, Carver was able to attend university, and eventually became a professor himself, specializing in agricultural sciences, and, of course, the peanut.
Why was George W. Carver important?
Though beset by prejudice, persecution, and the poverty of his people, George Washington Carver lived by his devotion to the Lord’s command to love others, even your enemies.
“The secret of my success? It is simple. It is found in the Bible.”
George W. Carver made many contributions to both science and southern economics (in saving the economy from utter ruin by the Boll Weevil).
Yet, though he had ample opportunity to take credit for the discoveries he made, or while he could have lauded them over those who hated him, he never did.
Always, in anything he did, he gave God the glory.
For some of the things we do, it’s easy to credit the Lord; we did a kind deed, we prayed with someone. But for works as momentous as his? Harder to do.
George W. Carver is an inspiration to me. He accomplished many mighty and wonderful things in his life, and not just in the realm of science.
His ability to forgive his offenders, and serve them? Incredible. Any of us, were we to achieve what he had achieved (and I am certain that each of us are capable) would revel in the profit, both fiscal and reputational, earned by them.
Even I, with this blog, have had that struggle. Yet, as Carver clearly demonstrated, achievement, apart from God, is meaningless. Wealth may buy comfort and pleasure, fame may bring waves of approval, but these things neither last nor fulfill.
I seek to be like George, giving God the glory in everything he did. Finally, now, as an adult, I understand the significance of what he accomplished:
He made Christ his focus
Every accomplishment, commemoration, and congratulation Carver received was re-directed to God; and really, it should make perfect sense why.
Being rescued from kidnappers, his ability to overcome resentment, his hope in the midst of rejection, and the source of his knowledge were all from God.
In everything, thanks was given to God. And so, it is to God again the world gives thanks for the peanut man and his contributions to all, George Washington Carver.
Closing Thoughts:
Giving God the glory for what I’ve done doesn’t come naturally to me. Yet, with examples like George W. Carver, I am without excuse if I don’t.
I’ve never suffered the hardships he has, so if I accomplish anything at all, God deserves the glory.
Whether I think so or not, in fact, every accomplishment I make comes from God.
I have much to be grateful for: a chance to minister, a roof over my head. But most of all, I am thankful that, whatever I go through, and whatever I accomplish, I have the same source Carver had.
A source of strength.
A source of inspiration.
About the author
Carter John Cada is the founder of and main author for Quips from the Quiver. In his free time, he loves to read, spend time with his 10 siblings, read, work out, read, work on his manuscript, read, and read.
He also enjoys eating.
