WALK #8

Spotted a sight I never want to see: a book tossed to the side of the road. It's also an image that sets off the imagination—how'd the book get there? This was of a Spanish text entitled Calculos Quimicos: una introduccion aluso de los matematicos en la quimica (Chemical Calculations: An Introduction to the Use of Mathematics in Chemistry). I imagine that the book might have dropped out of a vehicle carrying some vineyard workers; the title implies someone educating hirself. This is all to say, and regardless of whether I imagined correctly, the book ends up reminding of the invisible lives behind the label "vineyard worker"—a necessary humanizing of the label. On my return back, I noticed that the book had been moved off the road closer to a nearby hedge so as to minimize its likelihood of being run over. I assume it was moved by a man I'd seen earlier trimming that hedge, and am reminded of how respect takes many forms, perhaps especially among minute gestures. I spent the rest of the walk home in inchoate gratitude.

ROI*

Respect

never calculates

"return on investment"

_________

* ROI