Why

Image by EverJean via FlickrAlbany, New York on a quiet 1970's fall day, near a lazy sloping hill's crest, I stood with an easel.  I wanted to awaken a "Why".   All that morning groups of students waited for the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute bus and departed.  The easel and I were little better than  a  noisy billboard ad.  At lunchtime, the bus stop became quiet and deserted.
Quietly, I considered the possibility of more frustration when the students returned. My dark mood was reinforced by the carelessly strewn cigarette butts, coke cans and more littering the bus stop's unloved, dusty ground.

An image of a Zen garden which moved me flashed before me.  "Ah!  I will speak my message without words"

Enthusiastically grasping a scraggly branch it became a boom-like rake for clearing the ground until it was pristine and uniform.  Stray rocks were brushed to reveal their original surface.  Studying the scene and positioned the rocks  in reference to where the bus would stop and where passengers would exit.   Modifying my branch broom still more I began tracing rhythmic, resonant lines around the rocks. Time flew as I imagined what might happen when the students arrived.  Just beyond the hill's crest the sound of an approaching bus grew louder and I moved a step or two away, dropping my trusty branch
.
For the next few hours buses arrived, stopped and students emerged.  Hesitating for a moment to avoid the Zen garden, they continued their trek. The Zen garden remained pristine and untouched.

I smiled. Finally, the last student left the the last bus of the day.  He respectfully stepped around the Zen Garden and stopped to consider it for a few moments.  Looking up he saw and seemed to recognize me and noticed my trusty 'branch broom'.  Motioning to the Zen Garden,  he asked "Why?" 

I smiled and explained.

The complexity and beauty around us is designed, not an accident.  I created these patterns in the dust. You and the other students noticed and responded by not stepping on the 'garden'.  Motioning around me I continued, "The creator has caused everything we see to take form and in some cases to live.  My purpose here was to bring out the  . . . Why?  . . . because there is an answer to be heard.

David Belfort

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