Philosophy

You? More sensitive than I? Hmm...that bears more thinking than I plan to do on this sunny afternoon. But, definitely, this picture speaks volumes to me. I can smell the plowed earth and how the sun heats it up; I find myself wondering whether my aging and presently glasses-free eyes would see a fence amid the green near the horizon if only my sight were better. My mind heads off into thoughts of people long-dead putting that fence up, begins to imagine who they are, and mentally compares their stories and those of my own grandparents and great grandparents.

I think my children would yawn, because, having never lived in a spot where a scene like this was only a small walk away, they can't automatically hear the meadowlarks when they see it, and they can't feel the sense of space and wind and history that I do. I wonder what picture would evoke those feelings for children who grow up in urban settings.

And I can't help imagining a big stand of wild plum trees in full blossom just over that grassy noll. Ah - there's a bittersweet, nostalgic image!