The Absent Uncle: ‘The world is going to berries’

By: 
D.C. Schultz / Guest Columnist

The absent uncle is feeling a bit depressed tonight. He misses his sister who passed away a bit over a month ago. An empty feeling in the recently acquired weekly call to all siblings and now one is not there. 

Equally depressing is the realization that society – the world – has changed. It is not the way it was, and as much as some think that the clock and reality can be reversed – it can never be.

My Grandmother used to sit cutting up whatever vegetable or fruit from her garden was being harvested, prepared for canning, and ultimately used to its highest purpose. She would ruminate on what she saw as the events of the day and proclaim, “the world is going to the berries”! 

As a young’un I just didn’t understand what she was saying. What were “the berries” 

Until the last year or so I often referred to “the berries” with no understanding of what she was saying.  Just a saying from an elder – not to be understood? Just a whatever? 

At my new age of 70, I think I understand Grandma. The fruit coming from a raspberry bush, a strawberry plant, or any other plant only produces once. Without cultivation, without work, the plant would not produce a crop in the future. The world would indeed “go to the berries” without our continued toil and care. As they say now – one and done.

We need not “go to the berries”

 

David Schultz is the uncle of Brandon Valley Journal editor Jill Meier.

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