Almost Ready Garden
Today I did it! I spent 3 full hours working in my home model growing power garden. I pruned the trees and bushes, planted some more seeds, built up the compost pile, planted some more pots along the driveway fence and finished the irrigation system. In the next few days I need to finish off some mounds, plant some more seeds and plants and then sit back and watch it grow. Actually I will be in the maintenance, harvesting and building soil for the future stage. But this next stage is less work and more fun. Of course in this scenario I am not counting the rain garden that I am building in part of my front lawn. There I am not ready. I must prepare this land; divert the water from the sewer system into a rain barrel and into the garden before June 21st when the plants are picked up at the Milwaukee Sewage Department. However, my back yard garden is almost ready.
This morning by chance I heard a local conservative talk show host talking about how dangerous “these neighborhoods” and how bad “these people” are in Milwaukee. He was talking about a minor incident, which I had not even noticed on the news. His “these dangerous neighborhoods” were in the north side of Milwaukee and “these terrible persons” were African-American persons. He did not say this, but by choosing this isolated incident to focus on and by the tone of his comments and those of his listeners, everyone knew what he was talking about. My thoughts immediately were to the youth who were helping us in the DMZ garden. They were “these people” living in “these neighborhoods.” They did not fit the stereotype he was presenting and warning us to stay away from. Reading the newspaper today and watching TV news tonight I tried to look for the story he was commenting on and condemning. I did not find it, but found a few stories of shootings and senseless violence in the suburbs — not the city of Milwaukee. In terms of racial discrimination we are NOT at the stage of being “almost ready” to cleanse ourselves of it. The fear of an African American presidential candidate and defense of white privilege also reflects this reality.
There are things in life that are not ready and almost ready. It is the almost ready that has the best chance of being productive as I hope my garden will be.
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