A Yellow Fire Hydrant

I didn’t notice the exact date or year that fire hydrants turned 

yellow from red. 

Nothing that drew my attention when 

kids needed to get to baseball, 

or the groceries needed putting away, 

or bills were stacking up or work schedules interfered with street life.

One evening, 

I sat across from this stolid guy, 

his paint crumbling, 

marked up around the top.

Time to ponder this deep question.

It’s been since the 1950’s! 

At home, I looked it up.

Why? 

A perennial question for a child; 

a question I keep for such occasions

No answer was forthcoming, 

it just squatted there, 

little arms awaiting fire hoses.

Again, at home I looked it up.

Yellow is more visible to fire fighters than red!

Simple, logical and now I can rest my tired brain. 

“A fire hydrant is not something you 

want to lose, especially in an emergency.”

~ Shannon Wiersbitzky, What Flowers Remember

The 'Others'

The 'Others'

“Awareness of others? You’ve got to be kidding. I am barely aware of myself let alone others. Besides that, this social distancing thing and wearing masks sends the wrong message as far as I’m concerned. When I walk past one of those ‘others’ you talk about, I almost feel like turning and running the other way. Some people look positively scared. And it’s hard to get a smile out of anyone and if someone does smile at me, I can’t tell unless their smile goes all the way up to their eyes.”

“So you are aware of others then.”

“What do you mean?

“You feel separate and almost antagonized by them. Do you ever wonder why people seem so scared?”

~~~~~

A Rant:

This is a conversation I imagined this morning. On the way to a drugstore this afternoon, I passed a few people, most not wearing masks, and a few that were. I had not had a mask on while I was walking on my own and no distancing was required, but when foot traffic increased, I stopped, put my mask on, and left it on until I did my shopping and was once more outside walking only own. I knew, at least I believed I knew and believe I know, that I am not even a carrier of the Covid 19 virus. And yet, I wear a mask. Partly because it is recommended, but partly because I don’t know who is a carrier of this invisible virus - where a viral threat may be hidden.

As I watched the news tonight the refrain was repeated again about the economy and the rights of others. A retired nurse, I thought of the rights of the nurses and all other health care workers that are being trampled on by those that disagree with the health recommendations.  As the mother of a small businessman I thought of his rights and how they have been pushed and shoved around by the presence of this virus. The rights of those that do get sick, the rights of families of those that have lost a loved one, and the rights of so many with other medical problems, seem absolutely ignored. Their grief, their dedication and hard work expected! No matter that they are all more than exhausted mentally, physically and emotionally. Is it because we can’t see them unless we do watch the news or know someone affected by this virus? Being aware of all the others is just logical and polite.

“What is hard work? It takes strength, energy, and stress to truly care about others enough to place oneself last, but it is easy to wrap oneself up and selfishly scramble on the head of others.”

~ Criss Jami, Killosophy

Gone?

There are safe places for everything ~ 

logical and accessible places.

Cubby holes for the tiniest. 

Drawers for any size.

Files to organize documents  ~ until they get too full

Recipe cards tucked away ~ but not in the recipe drawer

All these safe places are firmly memorized…..

Our unfailing logic chooses these safe places,

in these homes where we reside every single day. 

Homes designed with our own organization in mind. 

Easy peasy. 

Right. 

And still keys vanish

Glasses become ghosts.

Cell phones have risen to ‘the cloud’

 ~ with the sound turned off

Kitchen utensils probably never were.

Where did I put that thing!?

“First up the lost and found has gone missing, It itself is lost, 

So please try not to lose anything until we find it.,”

~ Michael Scott, Irish author

For the Sake of Progress

Progress comes at great expense……
The crunch of paper and jingle of coin in your pockets
Work to create progressive movement
In exchange for opinions and beliefs
Compromise without compromising principles

Progress - a visible passage of time
Are we afraid of progress?
Shifting sands that don’t wait
Balance and logic connect our principles 
To projected progress that
Takes the expense of time
Time while we run our dishwashers
Instead of washing dishes by hand

Which costs more to clean our dishes?
Hands or a silver box that whirrs and sloshes?
The convenience that is progress
Comes from ideas
Ideas that build plants
Plants that employ many workers

And where does the environment fit
in the inexorable move of progress
while we leach from the earth?
Progress comes at great expense.

“Progress is measured by the speed at which 

we destroy the conditions that sustain life.”

~ George Monbiot

Slowed Down

I’ve run out of steam
I did my rant
Put out my words
There’s more I know
But tonight
I’ve run out of steam
What is more?
More is building up steam
Or is it
Letting hope simmer 
Long enough for 
Words to flow 
To make sense 
Out of the senseless
Logic
Out of what seems illogical
Order
Out of chaos.

“One thing at a time, all things in succession. That which grows fast 

withers as rapidly; and that which grows slow endures.

~ Josiah Gilbert Holland

Excuses vs Reasons

Excuses come with glancing eyes,

to prove an action right

but have an air of flimsiness

quite ready to take flight.

Excuses: breathy strings of chatter and talk. Explanations cloaked in shame or guilt; close inspection sees through the muddy silt.

Reasons are built on logic.

Making sense of things is key.

They rest on facts both cut and dried,

solid meaning their decree.

So live inside your limits

but respect them all the same.

Epilepsy ~ a convenient excuse,

but reason plays the game.

“Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than 

anyone else expects of you. Never excuse yourself.”

~ Henry Ward Beecher

Author's note: Edited July 25, 2024