I was saddened to see a community member start a confrontation around my dad’s creative mailbox/lighthouse that he built at our beautiful homestead on the Klehini River.
Although I appreciate the intention behind human interest stories in our local newspaper, I wonder: what’s the point if they only incite controversy?
Ady, if you read this, I wonder: Did you call my dad with your concerns before feeling the need to make public comment? He’d likely offer you a cup of coffee and a respectful conversation about imagination and challenging norms.
My dad was a school teacher, and all of his students can attest to his passion for imagination, science and astronomy.
This passion comes through in his building of the lighthouse. It’s in the spirit of Route 66 roadside attractions. Like the “Blue Whale of Catoosa, Oklahoma” or the “Leaning Tower of Texas,” it was meant to inspire free thought.
Maybe my dad’s tower does have the eye of providence on it. “Providence: the guidance or care from a deity or nature, forethought, wisdom, guardianship.”
Travelers are now welcomed by the Eye of Providence. Welcomed into a land of abundance and fairness. I’d like to think this valley is exactly that. I would hope this isn’t a community quick to judge ingenuity, but is a place that exercises forethought and with a little imagination, can think outside the box.
Merrick Bochart