In front of our retirement community runs a road called Mt.
Carmel Church Road, which, as you might expect, runs past Mt. Carmel Baptist
Church. A quarter of a mile before Mt. Carmel
Church Road heads sharply downhill and ends at Routes 15/501, there is an
intersection. Some long while ago, the
county mysteriously decided that the intersection needed to be turned into a
rotary, so for months now, traffic has been
slowed, and on occasion reduced to one lane with men at either end holding
STOP/SLOW signs with which they stop long lines of traffic and then let them
crawl by. Finally, last week, the work
was done and the new rotary went into operation. It is a quite unremarkable rotary in the center
of which is a circular plot of grass.
Susie, ever the botanist, decided the plot needed some
flowers. Off we went to a plant store she used to patronize forty years ago
when she lived in Chapel Hill before we got married. We bought ten tulip bulbs and a bulb planter,
and this morning, on Christmas Eve, we put some water in a bucket, drove to the
rotary, parked, dodged traffic, walked to the circular grassy plot, and planted
our bulbs. Two old geezers in their
eighties huffing and puffing as they planted.
Then we drove home and threw our pants, muddy from the dirt we had dug
up, into the washing machine. With luck,
next spring there will be flowers to gladden the eye and lift the spirits of
motorists as they enter or leave Mt. Carmel Church Road.
I hope God takes His eye off the sparrow for a moment and
notices. I think I need all the good
will I can get.
15 comments:
You are a good citizen. I'm not one myself.
By the way, god isn't a "he" anymore: she transitioned to another gender.
What gives you the right to decide that everyone wants to see Tulips there?!
I've never understood the New Age, Kabbalist, Hindu, Polytheist, etc. ideal that their version of God must have a female characteristic? I have always believed that God is male. And that he has always been male for all of eternity. No matter how long eternity truly is. Whether the universe or eternity is between 14 billion & 100 trillion years old, (etc.). Seneca the Younger wrote an essay titled On Providence in which he states that God has a manly love for the human race. And if God were female, none of us would really experience anything the least bit bad, since God would have a mother-like love for us all. So I think he has a manly love for us with exceptions, of course. I personally know God has saved my bacon many countless number of times in my life.
BTW have a Happy New Year & a Merry Christmas, Dr. Wolff. I believe that no good deed goes unrewarded or unseen.
Flowers will be appreciated by most. I do not think we need to get out our stop/slow sign to take a poll. The laws of physics we live by will likely allow that pleasure In the spring. Thanks.
Michael Llenos,
Actually, god is more like Hera in the Iliad or Athena in the Odyssey than like the so-called Virgin Mary. The Greeks, as usual, got it right.
Bravi, bravi...desperate times...call for desperate acts, tulips, and subversion!
Hey, Anonymous, Tulips are where it's at. I've heard---well, I've read on the Inter-net---that Tulips were Jesus's favorite. Wonderful hallucinogenic buzz, allegedly, properly prepared. No wonder he thought himself, "The Son of Man". Nothing like a little blasphemy on Christmas.
Damn-it, I want credit for that last Comment! I pushed the wrong damn button and it showed up as, "Anonymous". I want the credit for Tulips and "blasphemy on Christmas" (who wouldn't?).
SW,
I do believe in a goddess of Fortuna, a goddess of Wisdom, and a goddess of Love, (etc.). Exodus 22:28 says, "do not revile the gods." So they should be respected. Just as I believe there may be higher Platonic Forms in the universe.
But when I say the word God (or when I worship God) I mean, by definition, the supreme God of the Torah, the Gospels, and the Koran. Meaning: the Creator of the universe. And he is the only God I worship and the only being I believe has an infinite mind. I guess you could say God is the only God of Gods, as it says in the Bible somewhere...
Michael Llenos,
Gut Yontif...
People,
The Professor and his wife planted some tulip bulbs in the rotunda so that, in spring, there will be spot of color on the side of the road. pretty cool, that.
SW,
Have a good year!
Professor Wolff --
In the town outside Boston where I grew up, we had a number of places such as your rotary piece of grass -- we would refer to them as "islands." For the past 40 or so years (give or take a few) my father has annually upkept these islands with flowers, shrubbery, etc. A number of the older residents will, on occasion, complement him on a job well done. At the end of the day, however, I believe he gains personal satisfaction from experiencing that a previously fallow land is now flourishing due to his handiwork. In other words, while you can maintain that the rotary planting is for the benefit of the public, I completely understand that Susie is undertaking this endeavor out of her own self-interest -- which is a good thing. Count me in as wholeheartedly in support of the project.
-- Jim
So I'm at the wailing wall, standing there like a moron, with my harpoon...
Though this is definitely a good deed I think you have much larger onions than this
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