Smell the Flowers

I am truly grateful to be working at the state Capitol. I am learning a great deal, getting priceless experience and I feel as though I am able, in a very small way, to help people who come to my Representative's office with their concerns.

However, the State of Texas is suffering from a projected $4.3 billion budget shortfall during our current biennium. That's just from now to the end of August. For the upcoming two years, our budget shortfall has been estimated as high as $27 billion. That's a full one-quarter of our entire state budget.

Naturally, the solution to this is to cut spending. The word "tax" is heretical here in Texas. A politician would rather step onto the tracks in front of a speeding train than to suggest raising taxes. So, the only thing we can do is to cut $10 billion from public education, $2 billion from higher education, and to find the rest somewhere in health and human services.

Today, we had numerous groups of concerned citizens stopping by my office, from teachers, to bus drivers, parents and people who suffered from mental disabilities. Teachers were lamenting that they were spending a large portion of their salary to buy printer paper, printer ink and general classroom supplies.

Bus drivers were telling me that their school districts' transportation budgets had been slashed and that they were being forced to double up on their routes.

Parents were concerned about their children's schools - as in, will it still be open next semester?

The mentally handicapped were begging me, a lowly intern, for mercy. They didn't want to see their group home closed down. If so, they'd be living on the streets. Literally.

After hours and hours of heartrending testimony, I broke. I began to cry. Tears flowed freely from my eyes. I had to get out of my office, buried thirty feet beneath the ground.

As I was sitting on a park bench, enjoying the blue skies and the shade of a nearby tree, I noticed this old chap. He wasn't in a hurry. He was totally insouciant to those around him. He was a fellow photographer, and he was taking his time to enjoy some of nature's beautiful creations. He helped me to breathe. He helped me to relax and realize that we will, somehow, persevere and make it through these tribulations.

He reminded me that life is precious and, sometimes, we need to just let it all go and say to hell with the world and enjoy the flowers.