When Sheila Simon was a little girl, her Dad used to take all the kids out on election day and plant a tree.
That way, no matter what happened in the election, something good would come from the day.
Sheila’s Dad was the legendary United States Senator Paul Simon. A man who looked like an accountant or a college professor. All glasses and an adams apple bobbing. When he said public service, you felt like you knew what he meant.
Drive south from Chicago, leave the sprawl, and glide across every flat and endless prairie, keep motoring towards always that always distant horizon, till every road rises up from desolation dreams.
Listen for any voice saying ‘public service’ like they mean it.
And check to see if they’ve planted any trees.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsvks2ojjJ0]