On Saturday, we drove from Atlanta to Athens for the annual Twilight Criterium bicycle race, via GA Route 316. 316 is a four-lane, 45-mile trek through a sunburned exurban landscape of office parks, pastures and big-box retail. What makes 316 such a painful experience is the combination of difficult driving conditions (traffic congestion, numerous traffic lights, high speeds, aggressive drivers) and the utter lack of beauty.
The 316 corridor is land that human civilization has conceded to its most selfish tendencies (and fullsized pickup trucks): a paved asylum. Take, for example, this roadside gem which comes replete with a tip to Ol' Glory.
Little did we know, that on this very day a University of Georgia professor of Marketing would murder three people outside of an Athens theater in broad daylight. Might a little beauty, an expression of love in public spaces and community, have tempered the professor's lunacy enough to avert this tragedy?
I am someone who believes in a higher power and seeks to find that power in any situation, no matter how hopeless it may seem on the surface. In this case, I had to raise my gaze up to the clouds, for the landscape offered nothing.
I drove by those dumpsters that same day... and thought similar thoughts!
ReplyDeleteLooks to me like an advertisement for somebody trying to keep the planet clean.
ReplyDeleteWere it not for demonstrations like this, were would all the trash we produce be? Be thankful to your higher power that there are those among us keeping things clean. And be grateful for their patriotism.
Find your higher power in the reality of living.