The Haxtun-Fleming Herald - What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope

Like clockwork, color has once more intervened on our everyday senses in warm and reassuring ways. As in past years, a cry has gone up declaring this year’s foliage the best in many seasons, but we actually mean it this time. Who is to argue? There is nary a complaint about the crimson reds, iridescent yellows and bright oranges coming to life. It’s not just trees, either. It includes bushes, shrubs, ground covers, scrub oak and the cotoneasters to name a few. We take it as it is given to us, and we are grateful recipients of a portion of creation that continually stimulates and inspires.

As a kid, it was decidedly more fun to play in the leaves than it was to rake and bag them. But it was also a time when we were able to burn leaves in backyard gardens rather than pay to haul them off. The somewhat sweet-smelling smoke of neighborhood leaf fires was common across town. If not completely dry, some piles would smolder through the night, companions to 55-gallon burn barrels or concrete block incinerators that nearly every residence owned and in which trash was burned on an almost daily basis. It’s a small miracle there were not more property fires as a result.

Before you imagine it too Victorian, modern society was well understood at the time, represented by a variety of animals allowed within city limits. Horses? No problem. Rabbit hutches? Of course. Chicks and hens? Always. Ducks and geese? As long as the goose goo was under control. Roosters? Less so, although they made for great alarm clocks. The panoply of barking dogs and stray cats were out of sight, out of mind. Much has changed, and needed to change, yet we find ourselves creatures of habit who must mull over every possibility in the very human quest to entertain the best change possible … lasting, helpful, sound and wise.

Fall is a reminder of that obligation. We are presented constants by which to order our lives. Some, like the changing of colors each autumn, are rather straight forward and clear. Though simple-sounding, loving God and loving neighbor as self are high on the list. The difficulty is in discovering that both cover a lot of ground and circumstances.

Each generation discovers challenges before them that are trying and difficult. Quantum computing and artificial intelligence are rising behemoths of grave order. It will take our best selves to figure it out in ways beneficial to humankind. The good news is that we are not alone, abandoned to fend off magnitudes of darkness. How will we know what is best? Starting points include conversation, prayer and meditation, testing solutions in community, embracing broad varieties of possibilities, and maybe, just maybe letting go of our egos long enough to see light of a helpful nature.

Will this fall be the best foliage of the last several years? Does it matter? The argument is moot if we grasp the moment, and the foliage, directly before us. Could it be the answers are closer than we imagine? What kind of change will present itself? If the changing of the seasons is any reassurance, it will be worth our time and investment.