Cost Benefit Analysis

Leaves have a job to do. In the economy of the plant they are the producers. Chloroplast in the plant harness photons from the sun to turn water, acquired through the roots, and carbon dioxide, obtained from the atmosphere, into sugar. Sugar is molecular gold for the plant because it can be broken down to be used as energy or repackaged and assembled into more complex carbohydrates like cellulose and starch.

However when the economy is down due to shortages in natural resources the tree has to make some savvy business decisions.  The most productive leaves are those that get the most sunlight, the ones on the outermost part of the canopy. The central leaves also produce but with much less efficiency. When times are good there is more than enough resources to be processed by the efficient and less efficient leaves. But when resources are scarce the tree closes down its least effective factories and reallocates the available raw materials toward the best producers. 

Then, like any factory that becomes unoccupied, the vacancy leads to disrepair and in the end the leaves fall in the middle of summer rather than fall in the fall when they should.

Life on the Small End

I reside at the small end of a large funnel. Contents are poured in, swash around and are ultimately directed with velocity and regularity in my direction.  There are many sources at the wide end.  Some trickle in at random, where others are decanted daily, but they all end up in the same place and fill me up as instantaneously as they merge and tangle at the funnels end. 

There are those who pour in from the page and others in person but, still the same, they continue to generously tip themselves over and allot themselves toward my sustenance and edification.

Sure I have my filters whose gauges are as variable as my disposition but in my greatest hope the funnel runs freely and accepts the purity of the contents that pour in.  Pure and rare or pure and routine, they can intercalate or evaporate, value and provision are in how I let them be. I reside at the small end of a funnel; life pours in and fills me up.

Something Not Quite Right

Yesterday I, along with the other four people in my family, went to the Target minute clinic to get our sore throats checked out.  As it turns out we are all fine with no measureable illness. What was amazing about the trip to the retail doc was that it didn’t cost anything. My insurance has a co-pay of zero dollars for this type of visit.  Had we gone to an urgent care we would have paid $25 each.  Considering that the actual cost of the visit is significantly higher than $25 it still would have been a really good deal. 

Back at target today we were picking up some basket filling provisions and stopped in one of the pharmacy aisles.  As my wife looked for an out of stock box I couldn’t help notice a situation at the pharmacy counter.  The pharmacy tech was explaining the cost of several prescriptions to an elderly woman. It became clear that the woman was trying to figure out how she would pay for her prescriptions and the tech was patiently going over the options for buying some of the prescriptions now and some others later. 

My mind vacillated between sadness and wondering if there was anything I could do.  I remembered the rare cash in my wallet and considered offering it to offset the cost of the medicines but knew it wouldn’t be enough to cover even one of the prescriptions.  My indecisiveness determined my course of action and in the end I did nothing. Nothing, that is, except for seeing something that is reported all of the time but that I have never had any firsthand experience with. Nothing but recognizing that something wasn’t right and wondering: What would be?