The power of…

The power of sharing food is so simple. Plucking one ripe berry, or a dozen, from the bushes in the back yard. Arranging a salad full of greens and poached chicken and a few edible flowers. Smearing our arms with chocolate popsicles for dessert as the sun goes down.

What's not so simple is that this pleasure -- this abundance -- is not something everyone can hold in their hands. The other night Patrick related a story about a Republican who scornfully called free meals at school an "entitlement." We agreed, children are entitled to food every day. I want my tax dollars to pay for that. It seems so simple. And apparently not everyone agrees.

What power to I have to change the vast chasms of difference opening up across our country? What can one small voice and a few dollars do to save the future of our nation, our planet even? We can't recycle our way out of this mess, I fear.

What I know how to do is to keep sharing what we have. To invite the neighbors to pick berries and chew over ideas. To weed the garden, and water sparingly, and wave hello across the street. I believe in the power of small kind gestures. Sometimes, that feels like all I can do. __