heresy (radio edit)

Blessings friends,

Me and my buddies Matt, Marcus, and Junior were walking into the city the other day, and we could have used a good meal. We'd spent most of the whole day walking, our feet hurt, it was hot, it was late, and to be honest we were getting a little sick of each other. Tensions were running high. I asked what time it was. 21:19 by my watch, spat Marcus. You use twenty-four hour time? Yeah, it's nice to get that ambiguity out of the way straight off. Must save you plenty of trouble not having to remember if it's day or night. Shove it. Besides, said Matt, you're about two hours off. I keep telling you to change the battery in that expletive deleted watch. It's actually 11:20. That late already? We should get moving. Expletive deleted, I'm hungry! yelled Junior, louder than necessary. No one responded. We were all hungry.

I think Junior smelled it before any of us even saw it; it was dark and he always had a pretty good sniffer. He got a little antsy as we trudged up to the little moon-lit shape. Well look at that, boys! A fig tree! Sweet salvation! Junior almost hopped out of delight. Short-lived joy, however. A thorough examination revealed three half-buried rotten figs by the base of the tree, and nothing else. That's when Junior lost it. I mean, completely lost it.

He picked up a rock from the ground and smashed the tree, over and over. He tore each leaf individually from its branch, and then snapped the branches. We kept telling him it wasn't even fig season, but he couldn't hear, or didn't want to hear. Finally, after a furious minute, he tore the battered, frail remains from the ground, pulling up clods of dirt with the roots, threw the tree aside, and sanity returned to him. He's usually such a nice guy.

We were all silent, until Matt and Marcus burst out with sudden congratulations for his exploits. They were honestly amazed. Did you see that? How did you smash it up so quickly? You're crazy, man! We walked the rest of the way with a sense of triumph coursing through the group, but I just couldn't get behind it. The next morning, I found my way back, and carefully planted what remained of the tree. I brought some water from the nearby stream. I said a few encouraging words, and a few of apology, and left. I haven't been back since, but someday I'll find that tree again. Maybe eat a fig or two.

Hopefully,
walter

ruins

Bon courage,

On the northern tip of Africa, near some of the most productive agricultural lands of the ancient Mediterranean, a small horn juts into the open sea. The phoenicians settled there, and laid the foundations for an independent colony, Carthage. Over time, it became one of the most important cities in the world, the head of an empire that rivaled Rome. Rivaled, but eventually succumbed. After a three year siege, the city fell. The Romans systematically burned the buildings to the ground, destroyed the walls, and (likely false) salted the earth to prevent any crops from growing. The Romans maintained a presence among the ashes for the next hundred years, ensuring that anyone who attempted to settle in the region was killed. Then, they built the city anew, right on the same spot. They spent thirty years building the public baths, importing the best marble from around the entire empire. Now, here's a poem

I met a traveller from an antique land who said,
In a vast and barren field, a tethered mongrel,
Whose mewling protest rolls and fades
Unheard among the wastes,
Will die the solitary witness
To a majesty's disgrace.
So I called the old dimwit's bluff,
Not wont to trust too soon,
And went out to his described place.
I found a happy barking dog and a market
selling the best tangerines I've ever tasted in my life.

Delicious,
walter