REFER TO GREY by Robert Greigos © 2012

Private Spaces IV: Dark Garden

Sun, 13 May 2012 10:04 -0400

Only 8 weeks previous
all the trees were bare,
there were no secrets here.
Sun shone harsh upon the snow,
crusting roofs and porch and lawn.
The stream beyond,
other houses yonder,
well traveled road out front,
nothing to distinguish,
not unusual the view.

Then 8 weeks hence
leaves have come again,
the lawn is green and lush
becoming over-grown.
Birds have found the bird bath full
of mossy moldering brew.
Insects crawl and spiders weave,
caterpillars inch their way
and munch their fill,
squirrels forage
here and there,
upon the ground
and up in branches
tree to tree.

No one lives here anymore.
Who once did is not so clear.
The iron gate is broken,
there is no name upon the door,
only Mother Mary's visage
looks out upon the porch.
All the doors are locked,
all windows covered.
Rusted garden tools lean against back steps
leading up to clouded panes of glass,
beyond which sit four
empty pots for planting,
a broken bag of soil,
and one stained set of gloves.

Easy guess this was a woman's home.
No doubt she lived alone.
There are no swings or trikes or balls
lying out upon the lawn.
But in past she had a husband,
his tractor, saws, and hammers
rust within the shed.
Perhaps the houses near
sit on land that he once worked.
Who knows what tragedy
pinched the growth of her life's line.
But evidence is
for years and years she lived alone
solitarily grooming
a private shrouded seething realm
of green and light,
moist and fragrant,
her comforting intimate connection
to nature's humbling stew.

In faith, with effort diligent,
we each do forge
for ourselves
what joy and meaning
there is to be had
from life and love and opportunity.
In wake we leave plain testament
of what's right and wrong and true.

What shall we do with all the Leftovers?

Sat, 05 May 2012 14:22 -0400

Economic stagnation is upon us. Just this week parts of Europe dipped back into recession with unemployment topping 10% overall and in some cases approaching 50% for young people. Capitalists fault workers' unions and socialist government policies for overburdening taxpayers and job creators. Socialists fault greedy self-serving capitalists for sucking wealth out of the system. It's an easy pattern to predict. Squeeze efficiencies out of workers while at the same time cutting their numbers, pay, and benefits, and for a while you get cheaper goods and services with more profit. But in the long term, you undermine the buying power of your customer base, your workers and borrowers, and put yourself out of business. Hence, the economy stagnates.

What we'd all be better off with is homeostatic sustainability. In essence, what some of us would love to see is the overall economy float, like a hot air balloon, with just enough lift to keep everyone on board above all hazard yet with plenty of temperate breathable air, water, food, and creature comforts. Business people insist they are doing just that with their own companies. But, they aren't. To the last one, they are not contributing enough in restraint and taxes to maintain the environment and infrastructure upon which we all depend, nor enough to educate the next generation of workers and entrepreneurs, nor enough to take care of our aging generations, nor enough to fund basic research upon which new businesses will depend. No, capitalist business models are far too simplistic and simple-minded to include all the actual parameters that would guarantee our economic system inclusively and sustainably float. For capitalist entrepreneurs and politicians to imagine they are the social equivalent of aeronautical engineers is, in most cases, pathetically laughable. In fact, wherever self-interest is the primary motivation, notions of including all citizens instead of just a select few fly out the window. The question that lingers is: what shall we do with all the leftovers?

It was pathetically ironic that arch-conservative Sara Palin once fancifully proclaimed "death panels" had been included in the most recent healthcare reform legislation. Pathetically ironic because conservative capitalists have been self-appointing themselves to death panels of every conceivable type for decades trying to trim costs, eliminate workers, slash benefits, curtail worker's rights, escape pension obligations, and eliminate or corrupt to dysfunction costly government programs. But never has any serious consideration been given by those same death panelists as to what will become of all that is trimmed, all the waste of humanity that has now been excised from those parts of society seeking buoyancy. Their unspoken and very unChristian assumption has always been "the fittest will survive", as if that particular laissez-faire ethic would cleanse them of all responsibility. But does it??

It's an interesting practical, philosophical, moral, and ethical question. At what point do the costs to include everyone become just too great for the larger society to bear? And when that point is, in fact, reached what will happen to all the leftovers our society can no longer accommodate?

The dilemma seems not unlike the philosophical exercise of imagining yourself in a lifeboat without enough supplies to sustain all of the occupants. A few must be sacrificed if the rest are to survive. But, who will make that decision? And, on what grounds? Are might and cunning, slander and deception the inevitable answers? Would it be better to leave the matter to chance by drawing lots? Or, would the election of representatives to serve as death panelists be most appropriate to our nature? Something to think about, for sure.

Many of us would like to believe the best in us, in terms of innovation and good will, will eventually begin to shine as things turn grim. But, will that be the case? Or, will our darker nature prevail, allowing those among us with guns and no reservations about using them become the last ones standing?

Serious questions. But do not despair or feel overwhelmed. Per many a democratic constitution, "we the people" have powers we've yet to exercise. Take a listen to talks by Paul Cienfuegos for elaboration on that assertion.

May your deliberations upon these questions enlighten and embolden us all.

Réglisse et Pêche: Improbable Concordance

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 13:49 -0400

Have you ever had one thing remind you of another? Say, the smell of cookies baking recall for you the loving touch of your mother. Or, a piece of music transport you to a fondly remembered place and time or an elaborately imagined place you'd love to explore. Vivid memories are almost always encoded in our brains as constellations of things: places, scents, sounds, times of day and year, colors, objects, actors on hand, issues in question, sequences of events, etc., etc. Many many things lumped together make our most vivid memories rich in detail. It is hardly ever one thing in isolation that we remember, but things come together, things in concordance. Take any of those parts away and our memories as a whole becomes less: less full, less balanced, less vivid, less satisfying, less distinctly memorable.

It's a game that artists, writers, actors, poets, composers, musicians, philosophers, mathematicians, craftsmen of all types, and even cooks play. An interesting combination of things, novel perhaps, but not too much of this nor not too little of that. Just right. Engaging. Interesting. Satisfying. Responsible. Memorable.

One dictionary defines concordance as: "an harmonious state, congruity of parts with one another and with the whole". It isn't just the lumping together of things. It's the lumping together of things in such a way as to make something satisfying and meaningful of the whole, like the right combination of musical notes sounding a chord or the right combination of talent making a resourceful, efficient, and effective team.

When we look to what is good in humans we invariably fixate upon what has been brought together or about with such meaningful and satisfying precision that it seems as if it must have been effortlessly ordained in heaven. But in fact, nothing of the sort has happened. Put the question to those responsible and the answer is always that diligent effort was what made the result seem so simple and perfect to the rest of us. We who had no part in the process do not see the false starts, the experimentation, the testing, the rebalancing, the editing, the throwing away and putting back, the adjusting up and down and back and forth, this way and that, the setting aside then coming back to again later, the frustration, perhaps the giving up, then finally the finding of renewed inspiration, energy, and clarity of vision. No, we never see all that diligent effort. But it is there, there in everything that we do that is lastingly meaningful and good.

Not every improbable juxtaposition will result in satisfying concordance. And most certainly, some misguided efforts toward improbable concordance have and will produce horrifying consequences. But most assuredly, diligent effort toward finding and reaching universally satisfying harmonious concordance will ultimately be worth our every effort. May you never tire or despair in such effort. It is what most makes us human.

Just as an aside, did you know that the sticky black candy known as licorice is, in deed, made from root extracts of the licorice plant, but that the actual licorice flavor we are so familiar with comes from anisette, an extract from seeds of a different plant, anise?