December 8, 2021
Reflections Day 58
“One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others.”
― Lewis Carroll
“have i gone mad?
im afraid so, but let me tell you something, the best people usually are.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
When I was in high school, a psychology teacher took our class on a field trip to the mental institution in Milledgeville, Georgia. My friends and I were pretty much freaked out by the experience. This was when such treatments as “shock therapy” and perhaps they were still practicing “frontal lobotomies.” I can still look into the back side of my mind and call up a picture of desperate people sitting and staring in a desolate room.
One man spoke to me. He was very nice.
I asked him, “What is something that you can tell me about life?”
He stared at the floor for such a long time that I wondered if he had heard me or if he was still there. I didn’t say anything because my mother had taught me to not speak out of turn.
Finally, he looked up and fixed his watery blue eyes on my face.
“If the world is not turning in your direction,” he said, “Lie down.”
That was close to sixty years ago and I still remember.
It was in 1962.
Today’s picture is one of the contorted filbert tree.
This one is naked for the winter.
A lot of the garden club ladies and florists like to use the limbs in flower arrangements.
I just like to look at it.
—john schulz
Power to the patients
johntheplantman--Gardening 
Oh, I really like your play on words at the end, “Power to the patients”, since you mentioned visiting the mental institution with your high school psychology class and what a patient there replied to your question.
I love the way in which you write. I’ve enjoyed your Reflection Day emails and look forward to reading more. Take care, and continue to inspire others. *hugs*
Thank you, Nancy. I’ll keep writing as long as I can continue to think this stuff up.