About a month ago we met for beignets and cafe au lait at Morning Call in City Park, which is the massive 1300-acre outdoor oasis that was once a plantation and prior to that, a trade route used by the Chapitoulas and Houmas tribes traveling between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain. Nine of us chatted for a few minutes, then we began to follow the path out toward the bayou. Our leader, Carla, has a keen eye for the insignificant and overlooked details of every day life. For example, she pointed out a caterpillar larva that had attached itself to the underside of a water fountain. We looked at the monarch butterflies fluttering around the flowers and noted that within a few days the larva would hatch a beautiful insect to nourish the wildlife around there.
About halfway into the walk, some of us split up into smaller groups, and Marion and I decided to head back around the other side of the bayou together. While we walked, she told me of her home in Uptown and how she'd come to New Orleans from England some forty years ago with her husband. I kept noticing the disgusting cigarette butts, papers and the occasional empty pop can strewn over the beautiful land. Finally I had a brief outburst, lamenting how ugly it was that people would desecrate such a beautiful area because they were "too damn lazy" to find a proper trash receptacle for their waste. Marion voiced agreement, though not as passionately, and I realized almost instantly that I was doing nothing beyond adding to the problem. I apologized for disrupting the peaceful walk and said that perhaps I should channel that energy toward something more positive, such as bringing a trash bag the next time I come for a walk and deliberately removing the rubbish I see dropped there. Marion simply said mildly that it might be a nice idea. I realized that not everyone is as passionate as I am about things, but it's certainly not a bad thing. That is, unless I expend that passion on something that is not fruitful
I'm thinking of publicizing this in some way - this idea of Keep City Park Clean - perhaps even through the leader, Carla, who might have some good insights. Why not spend my time not only making the trail beautiful for me, but also for the others who come after me? Maybe we could make it a group project, or even a community-wide project. And yet, my thoughts go back to the larva we would have missed were it not for Carla and her attention to detail. It was only one tiny object, and yet that one object will make a difference in many, many flowers. Maybe I don't need a whole city or even a small group doing this. Maybe it should simply start with me. That's creating positive energy.
