Sunday, January 6, 2008

Help me! Help me!

It's early October, 2005, and the environment is as dry as a buzzard bone in the Sahara sun. Problem is, the location is not Africa, but eastern Oklahoma along I-40, twixt Fort Smith and Sallisaw. Apparently a farmer, believing there is strength in numbers, is exhorting passing motorists to communicate with the Almighty on his behalf regarding precipitation — specifically, the lack thereof. No doubt he is leading the charge in that effort on a daily, if not hourly basis. I suppose when all else fails, go to the source.

The sign struck me as appropriate to record. Later, as I studied the image, something else struck me. The croplands are suffering for moisture, yet the weeds around the sign and the trees in the background appear to be green and healthy while the spotty crop is stunted. Hmmm.

My conclusion is that the vegetation left undisturbed is surviving well, while the carefully cultivated crop tripped and fell coming out of the gate. It does not take a Mensa member to reach that conclusion.

One would further conclude that the Almighty and his first cousin, Mother Nature, still know more about making things grow than mere mortals. The wild things figure out a way to subsist. The pampered depend on others' benevolence and attention to survive. In this case, one of the "others," the weather, an essential component of the equation, was fickle and uncooperative.

If I sound as if I am casting aspersions on those in agriculture, I'm not. In fact, at the moment, I'm not hungry and I'm fully clothed and am grateful so to be. Two immutable concepts, however, are underscored, to wit: Whatever control we have over the environment is not enough. And there is a farmer in eastern Oklahoma who believes in God.

N O T E :  
Nikon D200 / Nikon 18-70 f3.5-70 / Post processed in Photoshop CS3

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