It’s the things we pass by everyday. Driving on the same road, taking the same route in life... creates a sense of familiarity, erroneous safety and perhaps, the mundane. It was on such a road - a stretch of freeway I take nearly everyday, sometimes more than once, that I had a strange moment of Presence.
At 70 miles an hour, with many other embodied cars so close to me, some passing me at a greater speed, I noticed this row of spindly, tall plants growing out of a solid concrete wall - those stout-thick freeway dividers covered with hundreds of tread marks - another subject to reflect upon. The plants were all nearly the same height, and seemed to be an equal distance apart.
At 70 miles an hour, with many other embodied cars so close to me, some passing me at a greater speed, I noticed this row of spindly, tall plants growing out of a solid concrete wall - those stout-thick freeway dividers covered with hundreds of tread marks - another subject to reflect upon. The plants were all nearly the same height, and seemed to be an equal distance apart.
Maybe it was the music on the radio, or my odd, euphoric mood. I did just eat some raw, organic chocolate. Something gave me the window to see these 7 - 10 single-stemmed plants - weeds, we would call them, growing straight up, searching for a bit of sunlight under the bridge that towered high above them. This scene is not so remarkable, but I felt the irony of speeding by this simple moment, like we so commonly do in much of our lives... passing those sweet little nothings that could remind us, if we just slowed down enough to notice, the miracle in our own breath... in every moment that we are here.
The intense heat, the lack of water and nutrient-rich soil, the deafening noise, the unwavering, erratic wind from thousands of fast moving vehicles - it would seem enough to discourage anything from thriving. The discord of all these static energies would not make for a good environment to grow, and yet, how wonderful to “see” in that precious instant, that life still makes its way into the void... into those small crevices never intended to support anything other than a minute, empty space.
The intense heat, the lack of water and nutrient-rich soil, the deafening noise, the unwavering, erratic wind from thousands of fast moving vehicles - it would seem enough to discourage anything from thriving. The discord of all these static energies would not make for a good environment to grow, and yet, how wonderful to “see” in that precious instant, that life still makes its way into the void... into those small crevices never intended to support anything other than a minute, empty space.
On the same stretch of freeway, just moments later, a bird was flying directly above the cars in front of me, moving along at the same pace and direction, with no change or seeming sense that it may be hit in an instant. Eventually, it simply banked its wings and flew to the upper right, away from the speeding traffic, heading for another large bridge. My eyes followed it up to a very high underpass, where there must have been a nest. Who knew the busy freeway that I travel everyday could bring me so much more than heavy traffic and the way home?
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