A Pledge of My Own

The great 10-1-13 Government Shutdown. I am militantly apolitical but even I can’t avoid this news. So I did the most sensible thing I could think of and hopped on my bike to seek out community and fine coffee at the Seaside Coffee House.

I love my bike.

It is teal and rust (the real stuff, not the color) and, in spite of its gear shifters, only goes one speed. No spandex required with this baby. Hell, most of the time I don’t even wear a helmet. Its best feature is the iridescent purple and pink streamers with the flower pinwheels that really spin. I always smile when I ride my bike. Even when the government has shut down. Maybe even especially when the government has shut down.

So, I’m cruisin’ down the prom on my pimped out bike, feelin’ groovy, when I see him in the window of a yellow cottage I've rented in the past.  The 3-second clip as I ride by turns into a movie in my brain. I know the set. There's grungy, yellow-brown shag carpet, a ratty recliner and an antique lamp that no longer has it's expensive glass shade.  He’s maybe sixty, salt and pepper beard, blue bathrobe and he’s standing with his right hand over his heart as he looks out the ocean-front window.  My first thought is to hope he’s not having chest pain (will that nursing instinct ever leave?).  I’m pretty sure that’s not the case. I’m also pretty sure he’s not reciting the Pledge of Allegiance – at least not in the usual way. My guess is his heart can’t contain the magnificence of the beauty he’s beholding. He needs his right hand to help hold it in.

What would the world be like if we pledged allegiance, daily, to look at something beautiful every morning, find some small good to do, look someone in the eyes to the point of discomfort, say “Thank you” to whatever it is we are grateful for, strike up a conversation we might not have had?  Because in the end, government or not, apocalypse or not, those are the things that will be left standing. On my death bed, will I even think about the 10-1-13 government shutdown? Nope. Will I remember your eyes, Deanna-from-Palm-Springs-In-Seaside-For-The-Bridge-Tournament? Yep. That’s my pledge.