Flower Garden

    Flower Garden is a story that accurately portrays racism and shows that peer pressure exists among adults also. The story is about a woman named Mrs. Winnings who befriends her new neighbor Mrs. MacLane. Mrs. Maclane moved from New York, and is a widowed mother to her young son Davey. Mrs. Maclane is a popular and well-liked member of the community. It all changes when Mrs. Maclane says hello to Billy Jones and asks him to help her with her garden, Billy cannot so his father Mr. Jones accepts the offer. People do not take well to the fact that Mrs. Maclane has an African man working shirtless in her garden, and they begin to shun her. At first, Mrs. Winning is embarrassed and tries to talk her friend out of hiring Mr. Jones, but after a while she gives into peer pressure and ignores her to. It ends with Mrs. Maclane saying hello to Mrs. Winning and Mrs. Winning ignoring her, showing that their friendship is over.

   The protagonist in my opinion was Mrs. Winnings, although I sometimes found it hard to sympathize with her pettiness and shallowness. I think she was truly jealous of Mrs. Maclane, and her happy and carefree life and her tolerance of others, she also shows how jealous of she is of how much love Davey gives her. The protagonist never blamed herself or thought she was doing anything wrong, she believes that Mrs. Maclane is at fault. When Mrs. MacLane asks, “Are you sure it isn’t because of Mr. Jones working here?” Mrs. Winning’s reaction is immediately that of to think that Mrs. MacLane is blaming the Blacks, and Mrs. Winnings is immediately irritated. This statement is ironic, because the town is to blame for the cruel treatment of Mrs. Maclane and Mr. Jones and their belief that Mr. Jones is in some way inferior to them. The protagonist was not willing to go against the social expectations or norms; she easily gave into peer pressure when she saw that her own status in the town was threatened.

   

Query

   How many clothes do you have in your closet? How many of those tops do you actually need? When you see a cute top in the window of a store, you buy it but without thinking about how you already have too many tops. We never really say that we have enough, whether it’s eating, going on Facebook, or buying too many clothes. I believe that a lot of our problems stem from our failure to recognize ‘enough’.

   Albert Lexie, who doesn’t have as much as most of us do, instead of working to help himself, helps others. He leaves his home at 5:50 AM    and travels to the Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, so he can shine shoes in the hospital’s lobby. Albert charges $3 per shine and donates all his tips to the Children’s Free Care Fund. Since 1981, Albert has donated $100,000 to the Children’s Hospital. His annual income is only about $10,000 and he donates approximately $10,000 a year to the hospital. He could use the $10,000 for himself, but instead he donates to others. This is one man who recognizes that he is happy and satisfied, so he uses helps other instead of himself.



   This video shows that you don’t need a lot of money in your life to be happy, and that you always feel good after donating time and money to help others.

   This week's query is: Do I recognize when I have enough in my life and know when to give                back?