The Neighbor's Gift

As I sat outside my house today I glanced over at my neighbor's house and realized there's an incredible irony just across our yard. Here; see if you can see it:

There! Isn't that awesomely ironic?! Oh... You don't...? OK; let me be a little more specific then.

My neighbor's done a lot of work on the exterior of his house and gone to a hell of a lot of trouble. I've seen him out there for hours pulling weeds and putting in borders and keeping everything watered. That's no small task let me tell you because I've watched him do it all. Note, however, that from his house he can't see even flower one. It's all on the other side of an opaque fence that's on the other side of a brick wall. If he wants to see the fruit of his own hours of labor he has to go and plant himself in the least comfortable place in his entire property, the drainage ditch that straddles the property line. But I, the lucky neighbor, get to enjoy his work every time I look out the window for absolutely nothing. I can sit on the patio and read a book and enjoy his hours of labor in complete comfort. In a very real way, those flowers are his selfless gift to the people around him because he certainly can't enjoy them very easily.

In a way, my neighbor's gift is an allegory for a larger life lesson. Just as my neighbor decorates his home with beautiful flowers he can't see, we all decorate our own lives with similar trappings that don't really benefit us directly. A kind smile shared with a stranger is utterly invisible to the giver. Kind and patient counsel given to a friend in need is an investment that may return nothing to the one who spent the time giving it in the first place. Ultimately, we must each decide if we're going to live our lives like my neighbor, erecting bowers of flowers for the enjoyment of others or letting our lots grow wild and weedy.