Wm. Steven artist
It was typical workday making my way to the office at sunrise while nervously sipping a too-hot thermos of coffee. It was an unseasonably cool day for September in Houston and the colors on my usually dreary drive seemed especially vivid. It's not a lovely landscape, even for this flat city, but things seemed different that day. The air was clean and crisp despite the other early morning commuters and industrial complexes throughout this part of town.
As the low sun shown through the trees I see a road crew up ahead and I slow to see what's happening. Something was strangely different, so I pulled off to the side of the freeway. That's when I finally awaken to the speed of the other cars whizzing by. I don't know why I really pulled over, but there was something I was missing and haven already stopped I knew there was something special to be seen here.
As I squinted against the contrast of the trees I finally discover what I had sensed was special here. Above the immigrants working for welfare was one of the many ugly billboards dotting our skyline, but this one presented a special irony. It said "Live the Dream" as it pandered a suburban community development.
Then it struck me, these people were living out their dreams. They made it to our land of opportunity and despite what the locals thought of them and their seemingly menial task of cleaning up rodside litter, for them they were the lucky ones.
As the low sun shown through the trees I see a road crew up ahead and I slow to see what's happening. Something was strangely different, so I pulled off to the side of the freeway. That's when I finally awaken to the speed of the other cars whizzing by. I don't know why I really pulled over, but there was something I was missing and haven already stopped I knew there was something special to be seen here.
As I squinted against the contrast of the trees I finally discover what I had sensed was special here. Above the immigrants working for welfare was one of the many ugly billboards dotting our skyline, but this one presented a special irony. It said "Live the Dream" as it pandered a suburban community development.
Then it struck me, these people were living out their dreams. They made it to our land of opportunity and despite what the locals thought of them and their seemingly menial task of cleaning up rodside litter, for them they were the lucky ones.
