civics: illiteracy versus pride

Jacob Loose Park

I was depressed much of the early morning. Anyone who knows me understands that I take living in a democracy quite seriously as I lived in places where it wasn’t respected or valued; I don’t ever want us descending to that level yet it appears many folks desire that because they don’t like what we have. I cannot express how absurd I find so much of the understanding of the debt ceiling issue. I exasperatedly explained to a woman on Twitter that arguing about future spending right now in conjunction (not in the grand scheme) is like telling her personal credit card company that she won’t spend as much in the future when they demand she pay on previous charges. To her credit, she got it and apologised. It’s not that I am always right because I so often am not but on this topic I a lot of sheer ignorance and wishful thinking rather than facts in so many exchanges.

I suggested that we go to Loose Park as it would be our only chance and I figured it a pretty Tuesday morning. I know most of you think Kansas City (and Minneapolis, for that matter) are merely flyover country. The moron who tried to force a pickup truck, carrying a Nazi flag, into a barrier near the White House only reinforces that. At 19 years old, he has no excuse for this breach but the virtually illiterate environment in Missouri these days sadly makes it less surprising; not comforting but less surprising people think flyover country is to be ignored.

Kansas City’s nickname is the City of Fountains. It certainly has some beautiful fountains with the Country Club Plaza, the large shopping district often called the oldest in the country, containing several. Just south, however, is my special place that one must visit in late April or May; I haven’t had that chance in decades.

Jacob Loose Park is small by Central Park or Golden Gate standards, of course. But, it holds a small lake, lots of walking paths, and other surprises. We wandered past the pavilion which was set up for visitors which I will close discussing.

A couple of dozen paces to the west is the gem: the Rose Garden which Bud noted was created in 1931, smack dab in the Great Depression.

It is a municipal garden so the couple of dozen volunteers we saw lovingly tending to the Rose Garden were all probably Kansas City residents. But what they tended to did not disappoint me.

My two favourites included the one where I managed to capture the pollinator

and the tipped rose with pink and white.

As I noted, we might have been five or six days too late but the sight of these and so many more roses revived my flagging spirits.

That a city so often maligned (not inappropriately for reasons I will discuss another time) would still have the civic pride to maintain this oasis of peace is such a tribute to who makes up the citizens of this country. Sure, these are retired women and men with time but they could dedicate that time to something more malicious, less shared, and more destructive. Instead, they continue nursing life as someone has nursed it in this spot, formerly Ward’s eastern pasture in the Nineteenth Century, for nearly a century. I hope those who live here, even in the dark moments, think about that civic gift.

But the highlight of our time in Loose Park was a young teacher doing a ‘High Five’ to each of her elementary school kids marching in an orderly line from their busses to the Loose Pavilion. She had a word for each of them, noting the child by name while congratulating her or him on making it to the ‘Field Day’. I assume school is nearly out, if not finished for the year. These kids may well get no other opportunities to play in parks or even on the streets of their neighbourhoods as Kansas City is a tough town as are so many streets in this nation of late. These kids, however, had one young woman smiling broadly as she personally welcomed each to a day of spring outside in the heart of that oasis of peace in the big city. Now that made my morning.

I remain petrified that too few folks really grasp the implications of these debt issues but I also got to see again a world of beauty, laughter, and sunlight which reminded me that all is not woe. There are many who care if we take time to notice and appreciate them.FIN