Happy Easter!
Dear friends and colleagues, Happy Easter to you all!
Today is a wonderful moment of renewal and return. In my front yard, the tree by my front door has burst into dust-like silken flowers, filling the air with the most intoxicating perfume. My front deck is covered in a snowy, melting coverlet of their fallen blossoms. My chickens are so anxious to leave the coop, they squawk and complain to me every time I saunter by as if I had murdered their saints. The herbs I planted last Spring, some now flowering, have already burst forth into riots of green, verdant and rich. My seed potatoes beg me loudly every time I hurry by to put them in the ground, so they can put forth their legion offspring and take over the world with their flowers. It is quite the tyrannical plot, that.
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Many of us here disagree on the finer points of philosophy, ethics, and certainly the weighty sciences of economics, politics, and etiquette. But just for today, please think about what this season means, for everyone. Since it is such a wonderful moment, and you made it along this far, try to be a little patient with your neighbor. Because life, all life, will continue. So will yours if you play your cards right!
The ritual of Easter long predates Christianity, and what we think of as modern Western society. In the early pagan societies, Easter was a celebration of the fertility that brings new life, continuity, and the future. “Pagan” is merely a word that means peasant, a farmer, closer to the Earth and the seasons. So just for one day, let’s try to remember some peasant wisdom?
The Spring brings forth the unmistakable and brazen manifestation of the fecundity and ongoingness of the Earth. Its occurrence foretells a continuing future. It says there may be a good harvest at the end of summer, and therefore an easy winter following for ourselves and everyone we know. The Earth declares that there is a future, no matter how dark and cynical-minded we are convinced it will be.
Before my friends arrive, I am now drinking a glass of a very fine, delicately flavored regional champagne (Forgive me Charlie), all green apples and dried apricots. My cat is asleep near a heating vent, wishing it were a blow torch. I’m now cleaning the house to welcome my guests, in the best spirits that I can muster. I might have a second glass before I start cooking (Is this even question).
I certainly hope you are having a day like mine. The Earth is trying to proclaim there is a future, and there will be one waiting for us. Because she certainly thinks that there is. It seems that, already, it is here. Now.
