Even with my scurrying about for flowers and garden supplies and working long hours outdoors this past week, I could not escape the din of the political battles going on in Washington and elsewhere. The morning newspapers and evening news continue to be dominated by what amounts to political circus.
Working in the garden and doing repairs presents a sharp contrast with the world of politics, especially given the shenanigans that characterize the present debates. It is honest work that produces a clear result: flowers grow and bloom and fixed water pipes work or they don’t. There is a clear and unassailable truth that does not exist in politics where the virtue of truth is elusive at best and irrelevant at worst.
For too long reality has been defined by political partisans and pundits to advance their political agendas. Outrageous and dishonest claims are put forth and repeated over and over until people believe them. If in my labors, I had just proclaimed that the flowers were planted and doing beautifully and the water was again flowing unobstructed I’d be finished and all would be well. It would have been so much easier.
The catch, of course, is that Mother Nature would prove such ludicrous assertions wrong. In much the same way, history and the marketplace of politics will lead to the downfall of those who practice hate and chicanery in national and state politics.