Trash, Flowers, Butterflies and Snowy
June 2024,
Hi Everyone,
On a wet early Sunday morning I picked up trash again on the quiet street near our wild meadows full of flocks of butterflies and probably thousands of flowers. Our peach trees have much ripening fruit that will not last long. At that moment all I was aware of was me, amazed to be alive, not too much trash, not a lack of trash and a trash bag. I was unpressured and at peace somewhere in an unbounded universe that probably exists more in my imagination than in reality. I am thankful for this instant of time when my trash enemy became my friend.
Compared to our start in a 2 car garage we seem to be in paradise To a passerby this is not paradise. On the unfenced part of our lawn you would see a large brown spot where the gas company parked expensive equipment for free and left bare ground for us to replant. We sowed wildflower seeds there, but so far the area is still brown. You would see tree stumps where our local electric transmission company cut down our trees that threatened new, much needed, high tension wires. What seems to me like many varieties of precious life happily living here might seem to you like a scary universe uncontrolled by people. We try to disguise our wild flower packed meadow with a grassy border.
Snowy, our dog, died and no longer roams within our fence. Snowy was all white, huge, fierce and calm like Moby Dick. He was a young stray when we adopted him. Once he bit a policeman and went to prison for a month. Our somewhat friendly looking fence is not to keep people out, but to keep Snowy safe. He went home with David every night. He was madly protective of us and we of him. Snowy built our fence. We miss him. For now we have no close animal friends. I am old and cannot protect them for a long time. Everyday I throw out cat food for stray cats, birds and wild animals that are mostly invisible and do not miss Snowy at all.
Being a good neighbor is hard. There might be too much trash, or too little trash. There might be too few flowers and too many weeds. There might be too many butterflies and not enough grass. There is no perfect system. We have two ponds.
On weekdays I ride my bike around the industrial park that we are in. It is a white knuckle ride. On the weekends my bike ride is quite peaceful. I need to keep in mind that when I am a car driver rushing home, a bicycle rider is an annoying obstacle. At another moment when I am a bicycle rider, a distracted driver in a car, or truck is very scary. Maybe matching my spiritual goals to my everyday behavior would make me a better driver.
I wish I did, but I do not know any words that would enable people to be happier, healthier and more prosperous. Words are easy, more effective behavior is very hard. One easy way to have a happy life is to be kind, respectful and thankful for the people you interact with.
Maybe together we could try to create an expanding bubble of happiness to protect more of us from the storm gathering around us. This might help, or make things even worse. I do not know.
Rolly
