I’m riding the shuttle to the Charlotte airport after missing my final flight to Charlottesville last night due to delayed flights.  How kind of them to buy me a hotel room.  I won’t use the meal voucher—haven’t seen anything worth eating.

            As we ride along, I notice everyone else in the shuttle is glued to their smartphones.  I don’t have one, so I’m enjoying the scenery. It’s a beautiful morning in Charlotte

            Wow, look at that magnolia tree.  Those white blooms against that lush green foliage are spectacular.  Oh, look at that kudzu.  This is the land of kudzu, and this blanket is covering something; not sure what.  The vines cover some sort of pedestals—are these posts or planted trees?  Who knows?  Wouldn’t cows love a crack at that kudzu blanket—it’s delicious to an herbivore.  If I could put my herd in there for a day we’d know what was under those odd-looking pedestals. And the cows would be fat and happy 

            A bed of daylilies; I wonder who takes care of them?  I wonder if the landscaper that cares for those flowers has a garden?  A spouse?  Kids?  I wonder if the kids enjoy horticulture.  I wonder if the landscaper enjoys horticulture, or if it’s just a job.  

            The area along a highway is known as “the long acre.”  On our short ride, I think I’ve seen at least 100 acres of prime garden ground.  All those landscaped roadside berms could be terraced with used tires and put into vegetables and thornless blackberries.  Goodness, you could feed hundreds of families on just the land I’ve seen between the hotel and the airport.

            Wouldn’t it be cool to see hundreds of families tending garden plots instead of sterile lawns and cookie-cutter Bartlett pear trees lining the 100-foot wide berms along the highway?  Children and parents out there tending their produce; the city could lease that ground to aspiring landless young farmers—for free—and save all that landscaping money plus provide a leg up for tomorrow’s entrepreneurial farmers.

            There’s a couple pushing a stroller along the sidewalk.  Would they like to garden?  What kind of future awaits that little kiddo in the carriage?  Is it a boy or girl?  Do Mom and Dad care about the food their little one eats?  Where it comes from?  Its nutritional quality?  If it has chemicals?  Oh goodness, as we pass, I notice both of them have their heads down, glued to their screens.  

            Well, I guess they’re not dreaming about the unused land they could turn into a productive garden and feed their neighborhood.  Now I’m at the airport, which has several large displays showing the legacy of Billy Graham.  I wonder if the people who got saved at his crusades eat at junk food Chick-fil-A, polluting streams and disrespecting chickens.  I wonder if any of them thinks about physical food security and how to be stewards of God’s creation?  Do they realize the earth is the Lord’s and He’d like a return on investment?

            Well, I’m now through security.  At the gate.  People are waiting for the flight, all glued to their screens.  Are they looking for heirloom seeds?  Are they designing gardens along the highways?  Are they looking for non-toxic, nutrient-dense food?

            Thanks for joining me on my shuttle musings to the airport.  It’s a beautiful morning in Charlotte; lots of potential for good things, from land care to people care.  Does Google care?  Where’s the algorithm to push everyone to put away their screens, enjoy nature’s beauty, and dream about healing land, families, and food?  

            Could you function a day without a screen?