Food for Thought

Ever pass by the same place every day,

day after day on your way to work each

day, except on Saturdays and Sundays,

your days off when you travel different

ways? That’s the route city folks take go-

ing to and fro. The farmer tends to acres

of his crops. Let’s say he’s growing corn

this year. And he knows it’s there, but

never notices one stalk is down or missing

out of the thousands standing upright in

a row. A single stalk has no reason to go

missing while all the rest continue to grow

neatly in their rows. There have been no

swarms of locusts, no storms with high

winds and hail. 99.99% of the crop still

stands tall. No reason for worry or con-

cern. Harvest will come soon, and the

land will be harvested bare. The city guy

or gal on their commute to work one day

notices an old red brick building missing,

one familiar in among rows of other plain

structures constructed in a more modern

day. Sometimes change comes suddenly

that way. The corn on the cob you enjoyed

at the cook-out yesterday was from the mis-

sing stalk in the farmer’s field which I spoke

to earlier in this piece. Each brick in that old

building torn down while your head was turn-

ed has been salvaged for use in another place.

Changes, dear reader, we’re talking about in-

evitable changes here. Whether you notice

each and every one which takes place may

or may not affect you directly. An old woman

in a nursing home, no acquaintance or rela-

tion of yours died yesterday. Who but a finite

few would know for as I speak, a new crop

of women grow old to take her place? Only

this poem I write today shall remain. That is

of course, barring fire, flood, tornado or be-

ing buried in a pile of paper which is recycled

or inadvertently thrown away. So it is, every

day we go our way seemingly the same. Be

that as it may, most folks see it that way.

It should then come as no surprise that

several copies of this piece I have written

today have been made just in case.

Chris Hanch 6-25-19