Observations On A Stone

Today I spent some time doing what I should have done a long time ago. I've been putting off this task for some time, not because it is time consuming or particularly difficult but because I am a procrastinator. The one person out there who waits eagerly for my next blog entry will now be shouting "Writing a new blog entry!" as an answer to this statement, but that is not the task I am speaking of. No, the dreaded task I've been putting off is the downloading of digital pics from the whole summer into their appropriate files on my computer. Putting them in the topic specific file folders, (camping, sports, family, etc.) is not a task that I particularly enjoy, but there you go. While doing this I had the radio on in the background and there was a story about some kid who was 'well rounded' and this of course got me thinking.

This past summer we spent time camping and the kids collected all kinds of 'keepsakes' from the beach and the woods and where ever else they happened to be. In their collection of rocks there was the usual assortment of nicely smoothed stones that had obliviously been worn and shaped by the action of wind and waves. They often had some neat colours and shapes but all had the same thing in common, they were uniformly smooth. Then there were some other stones which were oddly shaped, cracked or broken, and had holes or depressions or pieces missing. While the smooth stones were neat in their uniformity of shape, the irregular shaped ones were infinitely more interesting. The kids were interested in the smooth stones but spent more time inspecting and speculating about the rough ones.

Why is it then that we use the phrase 'well rounded' to describe people? It seems to me that people are like the stones that my kids collected this summer. They come in all shapes and sizes, colours and textures, but the people with some rough edges are, to me anyway, more interesting. If we were all like those smooth stones that my kids looked at what a boring world it would be. So call me a diamond in the rough or whatever else you might like, but please don't call me well rounded. I'd like to at least think I'm more interesting than that.

The Satisfaction of a Job (mostly) Well Done

With the onset of what could be considered summer, home improvement time has also arrived. Usually at our house we choose one project and spend the whole summer picking away at it. Last summer was taken up with demolishing a huge old garage and the construction of a new one. While I miss the room and space of the old building, the process of building the new one was rewarding (and with 3 daughters, I really needed a place to hide out). This summer is one of gardening and landscaping. Sounds like a simple enough matter when you first consider it. Rake out some top soil and spread some grass seed. Plant a few flowers and a tree or two maybe. Seems simple until you actually start to consider what else needs to be done in order for it all to look 'just right'.

Here we are now towards the end of July. So far we have raked top soil, planted new plants, moved old plants to new locations, put a new fire pit in place, built a new picnic table, began to lay down a new Belgian stone walkway and patio and built a free standing deck. Phew! Now it might just be me, but that seems like more than the simple spread some grass seed and plant a few plants plan that we came up with in March. I know it's not building a house or anything like that but holy smokes!

Well the deck is 99% complete (just some benches and a planter left to build). The plants have taken hold in their new locations and are beginning to loose that droopy wilted look they get when you move them around. The new grass is starting to grow and things are starting to look more or less like I imagined them. Finally, the other night I was able to light a fire in the fire pit and sit on the new deck with a beverage (that I brewed myself) and watch the river pass by in front of the house. As I looked around me at the things I built with my own two hands I couldn't help but feel some pride in my work (and in the fact that it required only one trip to the Emergency room).

Next item on the list – painting the house. On second thought, perhaps I'll hire someone to do that and take pride in their work for a change.

Names Have Been Changed to Protect… Someone

We've all read those articles in magazines where there is a disclaimer saying that names have been changed to protect the innocent or the presumed innocent or whatever. There are times when I can see that this might be necessary. Perhaps someone witnessed a major crime and had to be protected against reprisals. My question is, are these names really changed or are they just telling us that? Maybe the names aren't changed at all. "When Jill (not her real name) was 12 years old she witnessed a butterfly stab a horse." Maybe Jill really is her name and they are just saying that the names have been changed to throw us off.

What got me thinking about this was a story in the news about a guy who is testifying against his former friends in a biker gang in a murder trial. The reporter referred to the witness using initials (JG or something like that) to protect his identity. Now feel free to correct me but why are we protecting this guy's identity from the public at large? Does the public at large have anything against this guy? Probably not. They bad guys he is testifying against are right there in the court room. They already know who he is. I'm sure that the other members of this biker gang who are still on the street already know who he is too. Seems to me that if they were trying to protect him they would come up with some other better way of doing it than just not saying his name. Perhaps some kind of memory erasing ray gun or an invisibility cloak or even just a bag to go over his head-- something.

I agree for the most part that some protection has to be provided for those who are willing to take a stand against the bad guys so that justice can be done. Maybe it makes the witness feel safer to know that his or her name is not being plastered across newspapers and websites from coast to coast. Maybe it helps to get the whole story out in court. Does it really help or not? I don't know.

The one thing that does occur to me about his biker gang story is that the only people who actually know who this witness is are the police and court officials – and of course the bad guys who might want to get him later on.