A beautiful day. Sunny, breezy, temperatures in 70's, green leaves. I remember when I was a kid, a teenager, on days like this, I itched to go hiking or go to the ocean. I was frustrated. I was trapped. No way to get to such places without a car. I didn't have a driver's license. No one wanted to take me.
Now, I have the car. Now I drive where I wish. Now, I don't venture far. Too tired. Must drag myself to work. Must drag myself through chores. Energy is gone long before those things are done.
But I do venture out. Not very far. Not to forest or ocean, but I venture out. I walk down the street in a residential neighborhood. Brick ranch houses. White shutters. Manicured lawns. Tightly trimmed yew shrubs.
Isn't there more than this? I feel like "Extraordinary" from Pippin.
They mow the lawn. They water the lawn. They put pesticides on the lawn. That's the way it's done. That's all they know.
They drive their cars. They get their food at the supermarkets. It's just there for them. They don't know where it came from. They don't know what it really cost, what it cost to the environment, what it cost to the people doing the work.
We live the way we know how. We don't think about it. We don't know what damage we may be doing.
I don't want to do that. I want to be mindful of the consequences of what I do.
But how. I'm not a gardener. I'm not a cook. I'm not an engineer. I'm not an architect. I am not a politician. Practical skills elude me.
How can I be of use in this world?
As they say in "Extraordinary," "Here I am to seize my day, if someone could just tell me where the hell it is."
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