The two travelers

I’ve always been intrigued by Mississippi’s amazing extremes. Here’s a little tale I made up to explain it…

The hot sun burned down on the rich, black soil.  Man had never set foot into this wild area until one day, two travelers arrived.  They followed along a worn deer path and came to a great river.  One was wearing black clothes. The other white.  Both carried nothing but a knapsack full of seeds.

The two stopped at the banks of the river to take a drink of water.  The man in black wiped his forehead and looked up at his traveling companion. “This is fertile land.  The soil is deep and rich.  Great crops can grow here.  Let’s plant our seeds and see who can grow a bigger crop.”

The man in white nodded in agreement and both reached into their sacks. Each grabbed a handful of seeds and tossed them onto a magically plowed field.  Both sat back on a fallen oak and waited for their harvest.

The man in black’s seeds germinated first.  Thorny bushes named racism, ignorance, hatred and poverty emerged from the ground.  The man in black chuckled.  Soon the land was covered with his evil crop.

The man in white’s seeds took longer to break the ground. Great vines called music, literature, athletics, hope, kindness and giving soon began to crawl across the fields.  They wrapped around the thorn bushes and began to choke them out.  One vine called “The Blues” wrapped around racism and flowered.  The man in white smiled.  The whole field was soon alive with vibrant colors and beautiful fragrances. The vines’ roots dug deep into the rich Earth. And its seeds flew off to the four corners of the Earth.

Both sat on the log and gazed upon their creations. The man in white smiled again at the man in black. As the sun set, they both turned, looked over the rich soil and realized that their travels had taken them indeed to a very special place.