{"id":35982,"date":"2017-04-21T15:50:48","date_gmt":"2017-04-21T21:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=35982"},"modified":"2017-04-21T15:50:48","modified_gmt":"2017-04-21T21:50:48","slug":"revert-to-dirt-no-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/revert-to-dirt-no-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Revert to dirt – no way!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By TED ROBERTS, the SCRIBBLER ON THE ROOF<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

He knows not of Spring.<\/em>
\n So, tell him what warm winds bring.<\/em>
\n Like peaches and plums, apples and figs.<\/em>
\n They\u2019ll soon reappear with birds on the wing.<\/em>
\n Please explain to him about Spring.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Ted_Roberts\"

It was vividly beautiful for a few months, then it grew cold. Earth\u2019s first inhabitant needed more than a fig leaf to shield his shivering body. And worse, the flowers died a doleful death and the trees shed their leaves like the flowers shed their beauty. For months poor, benighted Adam gazed at the corpse of what was once a fairyland. Bare limbs \u2013 fruitless limbs. No more reaching out for a plump fig; fresh, you know, not trucked in from California. And free. Remember that this first human knew not the meaning of that 4-letter word, \u201cwork.”<\/p>\n

Well, I guess this is like life, he thought. It comes and goes like flowers and the green of the meadows. Such a brief span. I\u2019ve only seen a few dozen sunsets. I\u2019ll be gone like the leaves and the green of the grass. I\u2019ll revert to dirt. He sat by the big rock and mourned his departure. He linked his fate to the death of nature. \u201cSo short,\u201d he repeated over and over. Soon it would end. \u201cAll this beauty will be a barren wasteland. The rivers probably will dry up, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lord looked down on his first human creation. The angels took in the scene. The tearful two-legged creature and the Lord\u2019s sympathy. Being musically talented, the more creative angels quickly composed a jazz chant: \u201cHe doesn\u2019t know about Spring. Tell him what warm winds bring. Like peaches and plums, apples and figs. And rhey will soon reappear with birds on the wing. Please explain to him about Spring\u201d. This they chanted to the Creator of Summer and Fall and Winter and Spring.<\/p>\n

Well, the Lord didn\u2019t need any angelic advice. \u201cThe man is only lonesome and hungry. He needs a companion that\u2019s bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh.\u201d So, He put the man to sleep, formed Eve from a superfluous rib that he didn\u2019t need, and reached over the horizon of time into Spring for an armload of fruit.<\/p>\n

Adam awoke and started chewing on a juicy peach, even as the Lord gracefully and formally introduced him to the flesh of his flesh and the bone of his bone \u2013 which hardly seemed necessary. They were one.<\/p>\n

But she explained to Adam that a nice, neatly swept out cave was warmer than squatting by that big rock. And she showed him roots and tubers and dried out fruits that could satisfy his hunger.<\/p>\n

But he was still morose. \u201cNature has fled Eden. Soon the Creator will terminate us \u2013 we\u2019ll revert to dirt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eve smiled. Like one who bets on a race already run and won. \u201cWe\u2019ll see,\u201d said she.<\/p>\n

You know the end of the story. The year\u2019s cycle revolved and Spring smiled warmly on an impatient world. Adam smiled, too. \u201cMaybe life is longer than I thought. Life doesn\u2019t end when the trees go bare and the birds depart.\u201d There\u2019s more! There\u2019s more!<\/p>\n

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