Monday, January 19, 2009

King, Obama, Day of Service



On this amazing day, leading up to the extraordinary one tomorrow, I feel these images make sense. The one above shows the Continental Divide. I hope we will be seeing more coming together of diverse forces. The one below is Paolo Soleri's Bronze Windbell at the Missouri Botanic Garden in St. Louis. Bells can be so moving, figuratively or acoustically. Yesterday and today I kept hearing people speak (including hearing MLK's "I Have A Dream" speech) and being moved to tears. It's an incredible experience to have been in grammar school then and to be able to witness Obama's inauguration now.

What a great step that Community service, among other empathic values, will once again be encouraged on a national level.

I also look at that as a positive move for gardens...maybe more people will began to really think of their gardens as communities ("right plant, right place") and as places that belong to our larger community...local and global. Having a garden is a service in many ways. Now, if only I could spend more time in mine...but I like to imagine this blog might offer something of service once in a while. People don't comment much publicly, but some of you do write me privately on occasion, so I know there is a form of community. Thank you. And please comment more.

4 comments:

Philip Bewley said...

This was a beautiful post. I loved the image of the continental divide. What a poetic way to express thoughts on divisions, and the spirit of unity.
I agree that gardens, and gardening is a form of community service.
All the best,
Philip

Julie Siegel said...

Thanks Philip...after I wrote the post I felt it might be over the top. But today, after being glued to the TV, I feel part of a world community. Also, I guess those years of writing poetry weren't completely useless.

Philip Bewley said...

Hi Julie,
It it is never over the the top to say how you feel.
:)
I am so pleased to have connected with you again. Are you on Blotanical?
If not you should be. There are so many interesting people. If you were on Blotanical, we could know when you posted. Also, the dialog is so important with like minded people and there is friendship, too. I have to say I dismissed that aspect, but I have found that having people to interact with has sharpened my ideas and made me much more activated with my thoughts, writing and as a person in the world.
Sincerely,
Philip

Julie Siegel said...

Thanks for the encouragement & heads up on Blotanical (which I had never known about). Since I admire your blog so much, I dutifully entered my blog and did a little exploration: great site! Who knows what will sharpen my writing/photographing/design skills these days but one can only hope, since that's the new patriotic MO. Let's hope too that better fashion in the White House may spill over into a better consciousness about design in general. I can dream...