The Rain That Falls On City Council’s Flowers and Weeds

Spring has arrived in Rocky Mount, NC, and in our own gardens. Driving down Highway 64 from Nashville to Rocky Mount, there is that familiar image again, passing through a receiving line of trees dressed in their early, frilly leaves, each one a different shade of green, the colors deepening by the day.

The price we pay for this delightful new spring show is the green pollen settling on cars and porch furniture, and everywhere in between.

In the liturgical year, we are in Easter week, having just celebrated with flowers, Easter baskets, bunnies, and the cry, “He is Risen,” and the reply, “He has Risen Indeed.”
A holy time of year, meant to mark us, and renew us.

Because the Main Street blog is always with me, I often wake with a thought that insists I get up and write, or not go back to sleep.

On this Monday of Easter week, looking for a diversion from the City Council and its leadership concerns, I could not escape into spring. I awoke thinking,

“Rain falls on the flowers and the weeds alike.”

The weeds I have yet to pull alongside the flowering bulbs are proof enough of this.

And it is not difficult to apply the same idea to the City Council. Except for the newest councilman, six of the seven sitting members, along with the mayor, have all been painted with the same brush.

I suspect, like trying on a new pair of shoes, some accusations fit better on some feet than others.

The weeding in my garden is not a bad analogy for what many citizens are feeling about the Council. The pressure for resignations seems an unlikely outcome, but until votes are cast again, the rain will continue to fall on both the flowers and the weeds.

And in time, as it always does, the garden picture I’m trying to ‘paint’ will tell me what has flourished and what should be replaced with new ideas.

I hope the City Council sorts itself as well with new leadership that paints a different picture.