Jerrick was driving on a country road between beautiful autumn trees, with the leaves turning golden yellow, glinting orange and ruby red, arching overhead like rainbows, the fallen leaves hugging the ground and the trees rising high; leaves soft and soothing, wrinkled with memories of what they had been and yielding to tomorrow when they would no longer be. Driving slowly, the road never seemed to end. It was providing a time to reflect.

Photo by Ray Grasse

Jerrick was a shoe store owner. In these times the store was not doing well. The world's slowed-down supply chain was hampering deliveries and supplies, and when a man brought back a pair of shoes he had bought from Jerrick's meager supply that didn't quite fit, and Jerrick could not replace them, the man threw his shoes he had bought through the window and broke it. The cold autumn air then filled the store. And Jerrick was concerned about the climate crisis and wrote articles in a magazine and letters to the editor and spoke on TV, and someone came in, called him a hypocrite for selling and wearing leather shoes, picked up a pair and threw them at him. Sales were slow anyway since the pandemic had caused a recession and the country had not yet been built back better.

So as Jerrick drove through this autumn scene, he reflected on his recent decision to sell his store and retire. His wife was not happy though. She was constantly hounding him to bring her more money, complaining about how old the furniture and drapes were, and how she could never be in fashion when she dressed to go to the clubs she belonged to, or the PTA, or even the stores. They had a sharp, spritely, sparky boy, now a teenager, usually well-behaved, but not always. Jerrick had reflected on his life and decided he would leave his home, and later get a divorce, and let his wife pine and complain by herself, and get the things she wanted for by herself. He'd be willing to pay alimony, but nothing would satisfy her, he knew that.

Jerrick continued to drive, leaving his former life behind. Surrounded by the autumn leaves, he was already relieved at his decision. The road went on and on and never seemed to end. And just as trees leave their leaves behind, but grow new ones again when the right time comes, Jerrick shedding his old life might lead to a new one.

Eventually the road started leading upward and over the hill to the ocean, to a town next to beaches, with surfers and students as well as businessmen like himself. And he wondered who he was anyway. He had always thought he was really the same guy as when he was 21. The things from that time he identified with, what he valued, the life he wanted, the movements and cultures he was part of and believed in, had not really changed. He was still one of those students and surfers. And his Mom had just died and left him some money, so he thought-- I'll just move in here. And so Jerrick took up surfing, and ran along the trails, and met some young friends and some girls, and played music and wrote essays and books. And pretty soon his sparky son got a job, left home and joined him, and his wife found another guy who was willing and able to give her more money, so she was happy too.

And Jerrick wondered why he had become a shoe salesman. Maybe he could have been a writer or musician all along. And he looked down at his leather shoes, and thought: maybe they grounded him. Maybe he had developed a greater sense of security, a greater connection to the world, and to the Earth. Being well-grounded was not so bad. Even selling that grounding was OK too. And he had walked and driven in his shoes to a new life. And remembering the leaves, and swimming in the vast ocean, Jerrick felt the eternity within the cycles of life, sensing their music, and realizing that only the eternal, the forever the same, and forever flowing, is valuable and beautiful. He took off his leather shoes and felt the sand beneath his feet.

George Monbiot on climate change and capitalism

This piece of music is better than all others at portraying the flowing eternal one

The Build Back Better plan by wikipedia