Grass, Greed, and imagined retribution

The long drought is browning the life out of this town. The shade of the grass in front of a home or business openly declares the level of prosperity of the owner. The better the neighborhood, the greener the grass.

Whole areas seem to be drying out, plants and ornamental bushes shrinking away from the sun, leaves falling from trees a month early. The temperature was over 100 degrees today, as has become usual.

Firmly settled in the air conditioning, I begin channel surfing. Images of the Sudan appear. There is an air of death and devastation. A man speaks of a mother burned alive, a young sister kidnapped and enslaved. Rape, murder, burial in a mass grave, these are the fates of many. The narrator speaks of fears for his own safety as he journeys through danger to a refugee camp. Two women sit on the dirt, surrounded by swollen bellied, starving children. There is a newborn, eyes shut against darting flies. I look at her face and see myself, but for the mysterious workings of place and time.

I go in my kitchen, get a bottle of cold water, a snack, and somehow watch until the program is over. Turn off my TV, take a shower, and climb into a soft bed. I try to sleep, remembering. Counting my blessings seems a somehow inadequate response, a telling over of the beads of how well off I am compared to many others.

Another channel surfing episode surfaces. I remember a woman on HGTV pitching an on-camera fit because the huge, beautiful kitchen in her half a million dollar home did not meet her exacting standards. Her husband nods sadly, knowing she won't be satisfied until the unnnecessary work is done. I could rant on about other ungrateful, greedy airheads I see on E!, Bravo,and other channels.

Like the prophet Jeremiah I ask why wicked people, (and the ungrateful greedy) continue to prosper while the weak and impoverished suffer.

I google "why do the wicked prosper". The Bible promises that all will be well in the end. However, I derive immediate comfort by imagining those covetous and grasping airheads of reality TV reincarnated. Living in huts, hauling water, sleeping on bamboo mats, working the rice paddys, making do and doing without. While the dispossessed of the world live in the green-lawned homes, eat the plentiful food, and enjoy peace and safety.