Porches for Peace

Front Porches. When did they drop off the face of the Earth? The sociologists tell us that we’ve replaced them with back yard decks. When they went, there went the neighborhood. Now we drive into our garages (whose doors are raised and lowered without our leaving the car) and never see our neighbors. People can live next door to people for years and never meet them.

Until the advent of the garage door clicker — and maybe central air, however, we all sat outside on warm evenings and visited. We did kitchen prep as we discussed the day. We ate our dessert and saw what the neighbors were eating.  You knew your neighbors then. And that was a wonderful thing. I think Porches did a lot to hold the neighborhood together.

The flowers were just the bonus… they gilded the lily… but they did it so well.

Let us recall the Peace of the Porch. Let us relive the Peace of the Front Stoop.

Different Peace for Different Folks at the Truckstop

Some people go to truck stops on their way to somewhere; they’re wayside stations for travelers, portals for the open road. So useful now that priories aren’t on every street corner and don’t have to take you in.

For truckers, for instance, who stop at the same places, time after time, it’s part of their neighborhood. These are people they know and greet, maybe even a couple times a week. This is why they exist. This is where long-haul drivers find and create some sort of normalcy in their jobs.

For people out on a vacation, these really are refueling stations. Gas, free bathrooms, and standard, if uncreative, reasonably priced food.

For me, the memories about truck stops are after late, misspent evenings in my youth. Whether I’d been out with friends, or working late at the bar, the truck stop always had a warm welcome and the kind of breakfasts I eat only late at night. All this familiar food in slightly exotic locales. It may be local, but you don’t really belong.

So much possibility at one Gas n Go, eh?

Peace comes in many forms — at the truckstop and other places. Find it! Create it! Let’s Peace!

EverydayPeaceThursday21May26