Sitting on my deck during a welcome hefty ocean breeze that blows through trees several stories taller than our house, the fresh air landing, gratefully, on me in my chaise, I watch leaf patterns in multi-hued green values bounce and sway to the whistling wind. What a lovely afternoon. I am fortunate to be here. I need to remember that.
I’m sure immigrants who were deposited on Martha’s Vineyard a few days ago are happy to be where they are, too, though the circumstances and means that brought them there were anything but pleasant.
I keep wondering why we can’t find homes and jobs for them. I know Maine needs workers in every employment. Try to find a plumber or electrician and you may have to wait several weeks; a year or two for a landscapist; even longer for construction workers. Restaurants and grocery stores are desperate to hire waiters and stockers. Retail stores and banks have cut back their hours, so in need are they of clerks. Every business we drive by posts “Now Hiring” signs.
Yet, we have willing workers pouring into our country! Why aren’t we a clever enough society to figure out how to employ them? They are needed!
It’s like the leaves I am watching blowing in the wind. Dancing in the breeze, fully useful, anthropomorphically speaking, they almost smile, so happy to have a job, to accommodate and complement each other. Perhaps they know that in a month or two they will lose their jubilant greens for frail browns and fall to the ground. They seem to want to make the most of their blooming time, rustling and sparkling in the sunlight together.
I think immigrants must feel the same way. They want to work now. They want to support their families now in a democratic nation, far from the horrors they left behind. So why can’t we figure out a way to help them–now? We need each other!
It amuses me how nature always has lessons to teach us. I used to live near a lovely pond in Pennsylvania where trees on the bank flaunted their many shades of green as vividly as they do here in Maine by the ocean’s edge. Nature’s beauty inspired me then to paint, as it does now. Nature reminded me also, as now, not to waste a minute when I could be blooming.
The day will come when we cannot do what we’ve postponed. Better to take advantage of what we can do–now–living every shade of color life offers. Better to heed nature’s wisdom and help everyone dance in the wind.
Unnamed oil (sold) by Gwendolyn Evans
Artwork: oil, sold. This rather Impressionistic piece was done in Pennsylvania and sold from my Shawnee Falls Studio some years ago. Near this pond, we walked our beloved dogs. I miss them now, but am glad we had those unforgettable days.