benchmarks

Over the years, I have learned the value of sitting still. Life reveals itself more deeply to those motionless and immovable within. Surface froth gives way to deep current. Awareness opens and expands.Which brings me to the topic of benches.

Bench: "The place where the players on a team sit when not participating in a game."

Though my feet are usually in motion, I like to park my posterior from time to time. The metabolic rate of the younger crowd, keeping them more tightly wound and in a moving frenzy, bodes well for us more seasoned veterans of life. Room is usually available on the benches.

I have four favorite benches: two for sitting within the Human Theme Park where I observe the humanimals; two outside the Theme Park where humanimals rarely appear. All four provide peace of soul and greater awareness and understanding.

Bench: "A strong worktable, such as one used in carpentry or in a laboratory."

Sometimes a bench is useful for observing emerging thoughts, collecting them, and writing them down -- kind of a thought harvest. At these times, a good bench is a strong worktable, a laboratory. I wrote several essays while sitting on a bench under large shade trees while waiting for a train outside Santa Fe more than once. A bench is not for fidgety "waiting," but is a place of calm repose. The train, always late, arrived more quickly than desired. I simply moved to a "bench" inside the train.

Bench: "A platform on which animals, especially dogs, are exhibited."

This old dog loves to sit on a bench. Other dogs at times will come up woofing hello. Some plop down and become an exhibition themselves. Interesting dog-to-dog conversations emerge. Other dogs stop sometimes and ask for directions, but most simply sniff and walk on by, going about their doggie business.

Bench: "A seat occupied by a person in an official capacity."

When sitting on a bench downtown, I figure I am officially employed by the Theme Park. My job is to provide local color by dressing in Flagstaff attire (it's all the clothes I've got anyway so does not cost me extra) and being a "local character" (which I already am so does not require any acting ability). I charge the town nothing for this.

Just a geezer on a bench.