A Moral Dilemma??

     Today I was at the bookstore having coffee and browsing through a collection of interesting books when a curious thing happened. A pile of change had fallen out of someone's pocket and landed on the seat opposite me. We scooped it onto the top of the table and continued reading our books. I was going to put it into the tips jar, but took the books back to their shelves first, and when I returned a fellow from the next table was reaching over, scraping the money into his hand, and then he pocketed it! His friend just watched him. I was stunned speechless. He quickly got up and left the area, and his friend followed a couple of minutes later.
     So I thought of several things: Did he need the money? If so, okay. Why didn't he ask if it was ours? Was he just larcenous, taking whatever he wanted whenever he saw it? I can't imagine reaching over onto someone else's table and taking money from it. Is this a lack of imagination on my part? Is this the new "normal?" And why was I so silent? Why couldn't I think of anything to say? Human beings continue to surprise me, not always in a good way.
     Maybe I have put too much emphasis on this. Maybe it means nothing more than a young fellow putting a dollar's worth of change in his pocket, taking something that seems to be up for grabs.

Graduations

      It's the time of year for graduations, such a hopeful time anticipating the next phase of a student's life, perhaps college or perhaps into the working world. Last weekend I attended my grandson's graduation from the University of Southern Mississippi. We are all so proud of him! He has a job which he'll soon begin, and will be entering graduate school in the fall. The whole family gathered to watch him "walk for his diploma." Then we celebrated with a real down home catfish fry, with hush puppies and homemade potato salad. Yum! Lots of babies there, too, and a few cats and a dog. A four-generation family get-together.
      As in most families, there have been some rough times, but perseverance and hard work pay off. Not giving up is the key. Sometimes we need to pause to get our bearings, but if we don't quit we reach the goal. Ben did just that, kept his eye on the goal and finished with flying colors. Congratulations, Ben, and all the other graduates who have worked hard and achieved the goal.

Road Kill

     Pennsylvania is apparently the road kill capital of the United States. Friday afternoon I was driving to Reading noticing the road kill, as usual.  In a trip of less than twenty miles,  I saw in various stages of decomposition a couple of deer, a possum, a skunk, a couple of cats, and a groundhog. Sometimes I notice how this decomposition process proceeds, as one memorable summer when I was driving to Kutztown for graduate school. A dead cat lay at the side of the road. Each day it got bigger and bigger, swelling as it rotted, looking like a balloon ready to pop. And on Friday I saw a deflated pelt at the side of the road. The pressure had gotten too great, and it exploded.
       Now Friday's trip was memorable for a totally new form of road kill. As I drove, a sudden dark shadow crossed my field of vision from left to right, on a downward slant. As I registered that, the form rose up a few feet in front of the car — a red-tailed hawk. The beauty of the colors as the hawk rose in front of me was breathtaking. And clutched in its claws was a hapless mouse that had been in the tall grass at the side of the road. It was all over in seconds. The flash of color, the beauty and grace of that hawk have stayed with me for days.