The Reflecting Pool and the Peace of Wild Things

 

                   Forrest Gump and Jenny were later incarcerated for vandalizing the reflecting pool 

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

            The Peace of Wild Things -- Wendell Berry

The embarrassment around the Washington DC Reflectiing Pool debacle just won't go away. President Trump wanted the iconic pool fixed so that it was patriotic blue rather than algae green and assured the public that it could be done for a song. Many millions of dollars later it is still green and no one seems to know how to fix it. Chemicals added to kill the algae deep-sixed some resident ducks. 

Several people were arrested for vandalism that hadn't occurred and when charges were sensibly dropped this past week for lack of evidence Trump claimed that this was a travesty. The United States is drowning in stupidity. 

Someone has noted that before the pool was created a century ago this area was marshland. So, maybe it should be re-visioned as a pond with cattails and dragonflies and other aquatic critters. This is a marvelous suggestion which of course will never come to pass. I can see a smile on Abraham Lincoln's face at this prospect rather than holding his head in his hands with disbelief.  Sure, there would be mosquitoes but it would be better than the brood of vipers currently in DC. 

I've included the poem by Wendell Berry for the umpteenth time because I think we need The Peace of Wild Things in the midst of chaos.