Tuesday, April 7, 2009

White House Vegetable Garden


I can't get the White House vegetable garden out of my mind. It makes me too happy to think about. You mean the White House NEVER ACTUALLY HAD a vegetable garden?

It feels as if the fundamental thing that may be wrong with our society has just been discovered.

No question, these will be very expensive vegetables, but no different from the expensive Christmas tree. Although to many a sweet religious symbol, it also very much symbolizes wealth and heartless consumption. To me it always comes with the images of freezing little hands lighting last matches while peeking through frozen glass into homes with cooked geese on the table and velveted children receiving their colorful dolls and trains.

A vegetable garden on the other hand, and a first lady and her children digging in the dirt, is a symbol of gratitude, humility, and appreciation for where all of our wealth and happiness ultimately comes from - the food from the ground and the work it takes to grow it.

When the food runs out - or a few steps further down the line, when the money runs out, as it has and still is - thanks to all the thieves and charlatans out there - it is time to turn the soil, fertilize and replant, and not to sell rotten vegetables or even stones for food, as some of our bailout plans seem to do. I hope the First Gardener knows this and can get rid of the slugs.

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