You know, this past spring, the old guy took it upon himself to undertake a little building — or should I say rebuilding — project down on our pond just a stone’s throw from the River Tree.
Years ago he’d built what’s sometimes called a Japanese zigzag bridge there and the passing years, along with last year’s big ice storm had taken its toll. The venerable bridge was doing a heap site more slumping and dumping than zigging and zagging.
Well a beautiful spring, perhaps a certain amount of naive optimism, maybe, could be … and the absolute best of intentions probably inevitably evolved into a typical miserable Missouri summer and now fall and the old galoot ain’t getting any younger and things that you used to take maybe a week or two, dragged out longer and longer.
And then, as he finally girded himself fully to the task, it was apparent that there was a whole heap more damage than he’d first thought.
Talk about your driverless vehicles, it got to where his old Ranger pickup could find its own way to the Buchheit’s lumber yard.
But, huzzah, a couple of weeks ago the old codger finally “got ’er done.”
Just a few contusions and a tractor load of epithets, but thankfully zero broken bones.
All in all a solid win!
In a fit of terminal whimsy, he even affixed ceremonial Japanese style gates at each end with two words on each gate in Japanese Kanji script.
You might ask, what the heck’s with the idea of a zigzag bridge in the first place?
Well, it’s kind of stated in one of the Kanji words, “mindfulness.”
Kinda hard to be oblivious when you’re crossing over a bridge that zigs and zags every few feet.
You pretty much have to pay attention to where you are and what’s around you and especially where you’re going.
Might be something good for all of us to keep in mind as we come up to this upcoming opportunity and yep, if we’re citizens — responsibility — to make decisions that are not only going to impact our futures, but a whole mess of others.
Might make sense to pay attention.
I guarantee you there are a whole mess of zigs and zags going on out there and if we’re not careful, we’re going to be hip deep in something that’s a whole lot more aromatic than pond water.
The other script word, in case you were wondering is “peace.”
Kind of a good end goal for all of us, whether we happen to be Japanese Zen Buddhists or believers in Christ’s doctrine of embracing peace and love for all of our fellow human beings.
What do you say we actually focus … and mindfully walk that bridge before us this Nov. 3?
