Dear President Trump,

The other day I noticed that the Buddha head up next to the tree in our backyard was lying on its side so I set it back upright, nestling it firmly in the pea gravel there under the tree. Later, looking out the kitchen window I saw it was down again. Very strange. We have lots of squirrels coming and going and my guess is they were using the Buddha head as a launch point to climb the tree and kept knocking it down. It’s kind of a funny idea – squirrels racing around, leaping onto the little statue to get up the tree just a tiny bit faster and leaving Buddha serenely on his ear in the gravel.

The second time I went to right the Buddha I’d gotten him pretty well set in his usual spot when I realized it was quite likely he’d go down again soon so I looked around for alternate locales. Just to the left of the tree is a kind of cool flat rock we found somewhere and I decided to put him up there. It’s far enough from the tree that it wouldn’t give a squirrel any sort of tree climbing advantage to hop off of it and it gives the Buddha a bit of a platform. Then the only question was whether to keep him facing in towards the house or to have him face out towards the gate and sidewalk. At first I didn’t even realize this was a decision-point as I set him facing in like he always was. But once I had him sitting there and he didn’t have the tree right behind him (where it was logical for him to face the house and not the tree), I realized he could really look any which way. I also realized he was going to be visible to passersby and thereby vulnerable to disappearing with one of them. I felt kind of lurchy in my stomach at this point between the idea of possible theft/relocation, having to make a facing in vs. facing out decision, and having realized I’d not given the hidden, inward facing Buddha position a second thought before.

It’s a tiny trivial thing, but our Buddha is now perched on the rock platform facing out in full view of all who walk by the yard. He might disappear or he might get knocked over again, maybe even getting dinged up in the process. We’ll see. So many gambles layered into such a simple decision.

May we feel safe enough to face in sometimes and to face out sometimes.
May we be happy to be visible sometimes and to be invisible sometimes.
May we take care whether we are up on a platform or staying down low.
May we make peace with the inevitability of change while we still endeavor to make peace.

Sincerely,
Tracy Simpson