Progress Avenue

Progress Avenue (PM xxxiv)

From my vantage point at my

desk I can look straight out

and see the road. From left to right

in both directions.

I'm guessing I have a

view of maybe one quarter

of a kilometer.

Most people walking by come in

to my line of vision for about

a minute,

but if I make a point of it,

it might take a normal person

to pass out of

my view.

Some stop to wait at the bus

stop right in front of me while

others pass in and out of the

knitting factory across the

road.

One day an old Chinese man

with a small cart came into

my view,

shuffling along very slowly.

He would stop for a second,

maybe pick something up like a

discarded bottle or a piece

of garbage, he would examine

each piece minutely but he

himself would discard

nothing. Everything he picked

up went into his cart.

I can see the elevated train

passing in the distance going

between Kennedy Station and the

Town Center.

Twelve trains passed while this

one man was in my view.

It took him an hour and a half

to pass in and out of my life,

and I could only watch in awe

as this old man spent an hour

and a half being more productive

than myself,

getting paid by bottle deposits

and suffering in the heat,

while I sat behind my fan

at my big desk complaining

of being bored and unloved

and getting paid for it,

Which one of us in the eyes of

God was coming closer to

realizing His grand scheme of things,

I can't help but worry that it

isn't me!

MCC