Pinwheels

Briarlake Elementary School hosted a "Pinwheels for Peace" presentation today in association with the annual International Day of Peace. Each student designed a personalized peace message and design which was turned into a sweet pinwheel. This morning they were all planted in front of the school.

I had nothing to do with this project initially other than to announce it on the billboard. However, I drove by the school around lunchtime today and noticed that many of them had fallen over. I went into the office and learned that the ground is so hard from the drought that the poor kids had trouble getting the little wooden sticks deep enough into the soil so that the first wind didn't knock them over. I borrowed a screwdriver from one of the staff members (Caution: weapon* on campus!) and went out to poke some deeper holes.

It took far longer than I anticipated. I probably re-planted 80 to 100 of the pinwheels that were either leaning, already fallen or bunched up in the few soft patches of ground the kids could find. I found myself often kneeling on one knee with head bowed while pushing the screwdriver with considerable force into the hardpan (I have a nasty blister on my thumb to show for it). It dawned on me that this was a natural consecration position and so I began uttering little silent prayers: "Please let the child who planted this grow in peace", "Protect this child and all the rest of us", "May no harm ever come to anyone on this spot", "Help me carry this message in my heart and voice", etc.

I believe tomorrow the installation comes down and thing go back to normal, so remember to duck and cover!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(*According to Georgia law, a weapon "means and includes any pistol, revolver, or any weapon designed or intended to propel a missile of any kind, or any dirk, bowie knife, switchblade knife, ballistic knife, any other knife having a blade of two or more inches, straight-edge razor, razor blade, spring stick, knuckles whether made from metal, thermoplastic, wood, or other similar material, blackjack, any bat, club, or other bludgeon-type weapon, or any flailing instrument consisting of two or more rigid parts connected in such a manner as to allow them to swing freely, which may be known as a nun chahka, nun chuck, nunchaku, shuriken, or fighting chain, or any disc, of whatever configuration, having at least two points or pointed blades which is designed to be thrown or propelled and which may be known as a throwing star or oriental dart, or any weapon of like kind, and any stun gun or taser