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The
Spice Cabinet... Fine Cuisine with Art Infusion "To cook is to create. And to create well...is an act of integrity, and faith."
How are we doing so far?
"Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. |
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Saturday, September 15, 2001 Your patronage of our affiliate partners supports this web site. We thank you!
How are we doing so far? This morning I was still feeling pretty darned shaky. Shell-shocked and gloomy. No doubt a change of scenery was in order. I decided to get in the car and just drive around, see what I could see. I had no particular agenda when I walked out my front door. It did not take long for one to evolve. I began to become aware of what was going in my small community of La Place, LA (about 30 minutes from New Orleans). The
first thing to strike me was the fact that there were even more flags
visible today than yesterday. Considering
my fruitless search for one on Thursday, I had to wonder where these
people had found flags to fly! Obviously
I waited too long. In any case, they were there in increasing
numbers, displayed in a variety of ways. The purists and perfectionists And
of course, all flags at “official” locations were flying at half-mast.
That On the other hand, the sight of families in their Saturday morning routine warmed my heart. There were children on roller blades, riding bicycles, jumping rope. Fathers mowing lawns and washing cars. Mothers weeding flower beds. I saw joggers of all ages, golfers, couples walking dogs. There was even a family fishing in a small lagoon. I cannot tell you how extraordinarily gratifying, how encouraging that is to me. No, it is not business as usual, because our country has been robbed of that luxury. And no, the people of La Place, LA have not forgotten the unspeakable horror of 11 September 2001, although no doubt many of them share my desire to wipe out those horrific memories forever. Their behavior exemplifies optimism and confidence. The people I saw were people saying to themselves - and to anyone else who cared to pay attention - that they had decided to go about the business of leading productive lives in spite of having seen the face of evil in our homeland. They embody precisely the sort of remarkable resilience and quiet courage that has seen this nation through other very dark days. And I salute them. It is not as easy as it looks. At least not for all of us. You can trust me on that. But
back to the flags for a moment. An interesting observation. At first, I tried to count them, just for the heck of it. And then I realized what an effort in futility that would be,
unless I had someone in the car with me (other than I live in a middle class neighborhood in a very large subdivision. Lots of flags flying here. Despite the fact that Belle Terre is dominated to some extent by two golf courses, it is not an altogether affluent community. It is much more diverse than that. As you drive toward Airline Highway, toward the business district, you can easily observe a drop in residential property values. Not surprising. Flags absolutely everywhere. A very good sign. On my way back from the business district, I drove through a section of Belle Terre that I shall refer to as upper middle class, for lack of a better term. Houses there are considerably more expensive than those on our street. Doctors, lawyers, business owners, professionals... Yes, there were flags displayed. Here and there. I began to wonder. Then I drove up and down every street in the exclusive area of Belle Terre. The upper class area, if you will. (I am not at all comfortable with this classification thing, in case you had not noticed.) Now we are talking VERY successful doctors, lawyers, business owners, professionals. And at least one New Orleans Saints player that I know of. Multi Megabucks. The homes in this area (estimating conservatively) are worth at least $300,000 and up. Way up. At first I saw no flags whatsoever! And I kept thinking that surely there were some, I just hadn’t seen them yet. As I continued to drive, I found myself praying, “Please, God, let there be flags here. There must be flags here…” And sure enough, I finally saw them. On the last stretch. Three. Two were displayed on homes across the street from each other, and the third was a few houses down. What does that mean? I am not at all sure. Raises some interesting questions, though. Perhaps even disturbing ones. It certainly is not due to lack of money, and I refuse to let myself believe that “the haves” care less about their country than the “have-nots”. Perhaps they just haven’t gotten around to it yet? Perhaps the American flag does not blend well with their decor? (!) I’ll keep checking. Just to satisfy my own curiosity… But you know what I think? I’ll just bet now that someone on the block started it, others will follow. All in all, what I observed this morning was not disturbing. Quite the contrary, in fact. So far so good. Traffic was heavy. Parking lots in all of the usual shopping areas were full, so people are apparently not staying at home hoarding whatever money they have. It is encouraging to know that we are doing what we can to bounce back, realizing, at least to some extent, what extremely difficult times we face. Please
do me a personal favor today. If
you love someone (and surely you do!), tell them so. Today. Now. They should
not have to figure it out by themselves. Hug your spouse, your children,
your parents, your siblings, United we stand, and we shall not fall. Until next time, remember: The purpose of human life is to give and receive love. Michele "It
seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love,
are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of
one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am
really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love
of it and the hunger for it… and then the warmth and richness and fine
reality of hunger satisfied… and it is all one."
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