A Pint of Joy
Walking the suburban asphalt
The soon to set sun cast long shadows across the suburban landscape as Schaeffer walked alongside the highway in the direction towards that sun. As the winter air chilled he knew that he could not catch up to the sun and it would be twilight by the time he reached home.
As a large truck passed by him Schaeffer was enveloped in a cloud of diesel exhaust. It was a smell he had been familiar with all his life; the stench of an unconscious civilization. Soon a car whizzed past him emitting loud thunderous beats. Any music that came with those pounding beats could not be heard. From the opened windows of that car wafted the distinctive odor of marijuana; another human olfactory calling card of suburbia that Schaeffer was familiar with.
As the sun seemed to hasten its descent behind the planet he looked at the nearby homes. Almost all of the windows of those homes were closed off to the light by mini-blinds, curtains, or draperies.
Plants are smarter than humans, Schaeffer thought to himself. Just like humans, plants need light in order to live on this planet. They need the sun. Place a plant indoors and it will grow towards whatever light source there is. Humans, however, cut themselves off from the light which they also need to grow and thrive. They block it out of their lives not realizing the profound deprivation…
