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The Little Things


I’d like to give you a comprehensive write up of our class trip to Brookside Gardens in Montgomery County yesterday, but I can’t. The reason that I can’t is that I took a little trip of my own.

I got thrown off balance by a missing piece in a set of stone steps and fell hard. Onto both knees. I spent the rest of the trip sitting on a bench with two ice packs. I had a lovely view of this fountain. While I can’t vouch for the entire Brookside Gardens experience I highly recommend this fountain. It’s lovely.


I’m not writing this piece to criticize the folks at Brookside Gardens. They couldn’t have been more helpful. And our students loved the trip and the scavenger hunt prepared for them as well. I hope I will get to go back another time soon.

I’m thinking this morning of how it is sometimes the little things that throw us completely off balance  and end up causing significant damage.

Right now our county is awash with big issues that need resolving, So is our nation. Many of these issues have been around for quite awhile, like a broken step in a set of stairs. The people in charge didn’t see them as such a big deal and chose to minimize their importance and did little or nothing at all. I suppose it made them look calm and unflappable. Leaders like that, who turn the public gaze away from uncomfortable issues and broken places have their fans.

But those “little things”, those broken places, don’t go away. And sooner or later will come the fall. And the hurt.

Why are we struggling with our current challenges in Howard County? Because we are actually facing them and not finessing them. Whether it is flooding in Ellicott City, the school system budget, systemic racism, the achievement gap, environmental concerns - - we will make progress only if we are willing to get uncomfortable and acknowledge the seriousness of what is broken and commit to fixing it.

As for my personal injuries I am nothing more than badly bruised with muscles twisted and strained from the fall. It could have been much worse.

I wonder if they’ll fix the step?


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