And the Streets Were Paved With Gold - November 3rd 2009

We had a cold snap over the past few days. It was a few degrees above freezing yesterday Celcius and now my Brit coworker tells me it's -2 Celcius which is pretty darn cold considering this time last week it was 70 degrees out. Literally. It's almost enough to make me think I'm back in Cleveland.... Nah! Anyway, the cold snap had one effect that I both appreciated and regretted. It brought down the leaves off the gingkos. I literaly walked to school this morning on sidewalks paved with golden ginko leaves. That color gold has always been my favorite fall leaf color and I have enjoyed walking every morning on sidewalks walled and ceilinged by golden gingko leaves. But, now, in the course of one night, most of the leaves are gone. It was undeniably beautiful and I got a lot of pictures but the street sweepers with their cone shaped blue plastic brooms and their old fashioned twig brooms are already gathering up the leaves while the grandmas collect the gingko nuts in their plastic bags. By lunchtime the sidewalks will just be sidewalks again instead of golden paths into fantasy land and by this weekend golden arches where fairies dance will be few and far between. I'll miss them.

I've enjoyed my walks morning, noon, and night. I know the way now so I never get lost. I walk along with my thoughts and stories zooming through my head and watch the people go about their business. Shopkeepers get their shops ready, mothers walk their children to school (sometimes with one or both wearing hospital masks), grandmas gather gingko nuts, street sweepers clean the streets, the elderly garbage collectors pick up the slightest bits of trash, and everyone walks to work. It's made me really see the change of the seasons from summer to fall and with this cold snap winter is finally starting to say "Watch out! I'm coming!". Still, I'll miss the gingko leaves.

It seems that's how life is. Golden moments of beauty that are here for a blink of an eye and then pass you by. There are so many of them but often we just forget to look and enjoy them. Bittersweet moments. Sweet because the streets were paved with gold this morning. Bitter because once the leaves are gone they're gone for another year. But, still, they always come back and I imagine winter has some beautiful moments in store for me too.

We see life through rose tinted glasses. The past is almost always viewed as being better than the present. The good old days. The bad tends to fade and we seem to remember the good more. That's also bittersweet. If it was the opposite I think people would tend to lose hope and become more enbittered. There's be even less sweetness and light in the world than there always is.

Yet, this nostalgic view is a dangerous one as well. If we are always saying the past was better and forget the troubles then we see more the negatives in the present and fail to appreciate just what we have because we long for a lost time. Dreams are all very well but there has to be a balance to the dreaming. Everyone needs an escape from the real world but living in the dream too much means that you forget to actually live.

Also, how many times through the ages have parents said "Why won't my children learn from my mistakes?" Bittersweet again. Every parent wants to protect their child from harm but if you overprotect you stunt that child's ability to learn and grow. The child won't be a child forever and when they are an adult they might not be prepared to deal with the situations they encounter. Also, we humans are creatures that change a lot. Just look at how our technology has changed over the last century. Look at all the different cultures and languages we have across the globe. If we really learned from all the mistakes our parents made then we would have all the answers by now and there wouldn't be anything new to strive for. We'd get stagnation. Because we keep making the same old mistakes we innovate new solutions to old problems. Change is the nature of life and reality. Nothing stays the same or is forever.

Yet, there is a balance to that too. If we don't learn anything from the mistakes of past generations then a lot of the big problems don't get solved. Look at global warming and the environment. Look at the Middle East problems. Those are just two examples but there are more. We're creatures with such variety and our technology is changing so fast. We don't get a chance to solve the old problems before we are out creating all new ones. Cloning? Biochemical weapons? Genetic engineering? Super diseases? Nuclear weapons? Overpopulation? Global Warming? You can add those to the list along with good old war, starvation, greed, disease, racism, and religious fanaticsm. Yet all these problems give mankind things to strive against and eventually, perhaps, we'll wake up in time before we destroy ourselves.

I suppose the key is balance. Balance in all things. It's when we get to extremes that there are problems. Extremes in religion led to the Spanish Inquisition and has had the Middle East in turmoil for centuries. Extremes in hate and racism led to the KKK and the Holocaust. Extremes in technology has to computers controling so much and genetic engineering and super diseases that have us all paranoid. Extremes in weaponry have lead to the nuclear bomb being able to be accessed by people who have no business having one. Extremes in greed lead to CEOs of business padding their own pockets while their businesses fail and take the world's economy with them. So many extremes. I sometimes think the golden rule was lost long ago if it ever truly was followed. Treat others as you would wish to be treated. Such a simple and true guide to life but one so seldom followed. If only there was more balance in life, more room for tolerance, more sharing of resources, more sharing and collaboration. So many problems and too few answers. I think that these problems will never be solved until we humans get a huge kick in the ass to wake us up and really make us realize what we are doing. So much of what we worry about each day is such self-centered bullshit. Treat others how you wish to be treated.

But, I can't do anything really to stop these big issues. I'm just a teacher and creator of audiodrama. I'm just a very small speck in the scheme of things. I'll settle for trying to make a small difference teaching children English and writing and mixing my stories with my fantastic cast. Who knows what one of my kids might do someday? Who knows who might listen to Gaia and actually like it? That's one thing that keeps me writing and mixing away. But the main thing is I just love it and hearing what my characters come up with next. But, for now, I can't save the world so I'll just enjoy walking through streets paved with golden gingko leaves.