Just One Red Leaf

 

While taking my afternoon walk down our private road towards the mailbox, more of a chance to exercise my replacement knee than to check on the mail; I happen to notice a single red leaf on the ground.  I’m not sure which tree it fell from; this being only the second week in September, it seemed a little premature to have Fall leaves.

The afternoon temperature was right at 90 degrees, about normal for this time of year.  I’d walked enough to notice beads of perspiration had formed on my forehead.  I take my cellphone with me on these walks, just in case I need to call for help getting home in case my knee decides it’s had enough.  I still find it rather amazing that folks can take photographs with their “phone”; so, I snapped a photo of the fallen leaf.

That single red leaf, as my mind worked to explain why I’d taken a picture of it, that single red leaf represents hope.  That’s right, hope.

Looking around at the many trees that line our private road, they all appeared to be dressed in various shades of green indicating that Summer was in full swing.  I was unable to identify the tree which had lost the single red leaf and yet it had to be nearby.

Fall and the resplendent colors we look forward to is close, so close as to make me hopeful.  The air will change from being in the nineties to a more comfortable setting, perhaps a light breeze out of the north to blow lots and lots of leaves about. 

Perhaps my youngest grandson will come visit and he can toss handfuls of leaves into the air, delighting as they fall around him without a care in the world.  We’ll then go into the house and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate to warm up and smile at having lived to see the seasons change.

Two weeks from now we’re having a wood burning stove installed in our living room.  At this moment it’s in the shipping crate sitting on the porch awaiting the scheduled installation.  In biblical terms this would be called faith.  We haven’t seen any cold weather, at least not at this time, and yet we are acting on the hope that cold weather surely follows the first fallen leaf.

During the hottest days of summer, I was splitting large tree chunks down to a usable size that will fit the wood burning stove we purchased.  That kind of labor, effort spent on the expectation of something that had yet to be…that’s the definition of faith.

Hope and faith are essential elements to having joy.  They have nothing to do with how much money you make, whether or not you are living in a fancy home or under a bridge trying to figure out where your next meal is coming from.  If we can have hope in our hearts and minds that good things will happen and then act with faith believing that things will work out, then everything will work out just fine.

Tell the Truth; but, Take Good Notes

 

There was a clever quote by Mark Twain shared on Facebook, “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything”.  I thought about that for a moment and then decided it was lacking something important, which might annoy folks seeing as I was contradicting one of America’s foremost minds.

Yes, it’s important to tell the truth because once you start telling lies, eventually you’ll forget which lie you told and you’re going to be caught.

But keeping good notes about the truth is important too; especially if you expect to remember details down the road.

To illustrate my point, back when I was a police officer for the City of Houston, I’d write traffic tickets and later appear in court if the driver wished to contest the ticket.

I developed a short code consisting of letters and numbers to jog my memory on details which were associated with each violation.  If the driver ran a red light; but claimed the light was yellow, down in the corner of the traffic ticket I’d put “CY”.

I’d also put how many car lengths from the intersection the driver was when the light turned red prior to driving on through that red light; 1,2,3 and so on… but reserved ½ to indicate that the driver not only ran the red light; but had accelerated rather than tried to stop. This was a simple way to be able to testify to what I’d seen when it came time in traffic court, often months after the ticket had been issued.

One afternoon after having testified about a driver having run a red light by 3 car lengths the judge stopped the prosecutor, looked at me and asked, “Didn’t the driver run the red light by 3 and a half car lengths?”  I couldn’t help but smile as I refrained from outright laughing.

“No, Sir.  She ran the red light by 3 car lengths.”

“Then what’s this 3 and a half you marked down at the bottom of the ticket?”  Judges aren’t supposed to enter evidence like that, not even in traffic court.  It turns out this judge had a law office across the street from one of my favorite intersections for writing red light tickets.  He’d take notes on his own and then compare my testimony to what he’d observed and jotted down on a note pad. 

I suppose he was satisfied that my testimony matched with his own observations; but that didn’t justify him adding to my testimony.

“Your Honor, the 3 indicated how far from the intersection her vehicle was when the light turned red and the ½ noted that she’d put her foot through the accelerator trying to beat the light.”  I’d successfully explained my notation; but then the judge asked another question.

“What’s this letter “B” indicate, Officer Stern?”  I had to pause, momentarily looking into the heavens for help prior to answering.

“Belligerent, Sir.”  I’d pulled it off and thanked my folks silently for having expanded my vocabulary over the years.  The prosecutor nearly fell over as he confined a belly laugh at hearing my off the cuff response. No doubt, this particular traffic violator had been a real…alter that, had been, belligerent.

As you can see, taking good notes helps to jog your memory even when you’re telling the truth; especially when you’re telling the truth.