Signs and Wonders

May you live in interesting times.
                                --a curse, reported by an early 20th c. British ambassador to China

Look around, look around
At how lucky we are to be alive right now.
                                --Hamilton

Despite the signs that the coronavirus is still surging in the U.S., that colleges are already experiencing outbreaks (despite the fact that fall classes haven't started yet), and that people are  desperately willing to believe all kinds of misinformation about cures, 

Yet the natural world keeps surprising and delighting me with wonders, most of them right here in our yard. Let me share a few with you.

Look at this caterpillar,  munching its way through a bit of my dill plant. 

It might become a butterfly like this one.

Speaking of insects, I got to see a cicada emerging from its shell the other night. 

It was at once a horrifying and amazing sight: a wonder to behold!

Despite the insect life, tiny pickle-sized cucumbers on my cucumber plant are growing into useful produce. 

I made tabouli out of this cuke and tomato, the parsley, some mint, and even some second-chance green onions I sprouted in a juice glass on the counter!  I find it pretty wondrous to be able to make almost an entire dish with stuff from my garden. 

I have heard that more people have been into gardening this summer because of Covid. I hope all the newcomers to gardening have satisfying experiences.

One amazing wonder of this month wasn't alive. It was comet Neowise, which made a once-in-7000-years visit to our solar system. When I heard it was easily visible, I became obsessed with seeing it. I missed Hale-Bopp, which apparently came through in 1997, but I was busy then. And Halley's comet, in 1986, was a dud. So this was my chance!

We decided to go out of town to see it so we would be away from the bright lights. We drove northwest, and after we got off the highway, I told Bruce to watch for "a small road" for me to turn on. 

We found a gravel road, turned, and discovered probably a half-dozen or more cars already parked at the side of the road, and people out looking heavenward with binos!

It reminded me of the solar eclipse in 2017, when I joined a group of people congregated by the side of the highway in Missouri to Experience Totality. Strangers became friendly--we chatted together and encouraged one another.

Same thing the night we went to see the comet. The people there helped us find the comet. We could easily see it with our binos: there it was below the Big Dipper, with its fizzy tail, going somewhere.  Without binos, you could see it best out of the corner of your eye--it didn't quite want to be seen. It's a Wonder: it deserves to be a bit hard to spot.

The next night, we took Anne with us, and met Robbie and Aubrey at the same place. Robbie took this amazing photo, above.

Last week, activist and congressman John Lewis passed away at age 80. His death hit me: I remember learning about him in my FYS back in 1980: SNCC, Pettus Bridge, marching and speaking with Dr. King. His dedication to voting rights and racial justice--despite all, including the current administration--is an inspiration. 

I heard about this commemoration of John Lewis, involving ringing church bells. Our church doesn't have bells (how many do, really?), but I knew where there was a bell: on Coe's campus. So I asked the administration if Coe was going to commemorate John Lewis in this way. President McInally liked the idea, but was out of town. He asked me if I could organize the bell-ringing.

The time for the bell-ringing was less than 24 hours away, but we were able to do it.

The younger people who came by to help ring hadn't heard about the movie Selma, so I urged them to watch it. That moment when the entire group of protesters kneels down in prayer--as one--on the bridge gives me chills just to think about it. I remember watching it and thinking "Oh Christian brothers and sisters! Where are you now?"

An essay by Lewis appeared in the NYTimes today, the day of his funeral. In it he reminded us:

Though I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe. In my life I have done all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way. Now it is your turn to let freedom ring.

It's time for all of us to follow in John Lewis's footsteps. He was a wonder, and he wanted us to be wonders, too.