Sunday, Aug. 15, 2010

Appearances aren't everything

I'm a longtime resident of Raleigh. My family and I have lived here for 32 years, and we're well-settled in.

In response to Midtown and North Raleigh News editor's Aug. 8 column, I would like to share some mere observations of this past weekend. We heard and witnessed lawnmowers, blowers, and weedwackers as we sat on the back porch in our middle-class neighborhood. These sounds are by no means unusual. On Saturday, I clipped back wisteria vines, which I do on an as needed basis, weeded and I mowed the lawn. I actually do enjoy mowing the lawn, which is more clover and violets than real grass. But it is green.

On Sunday, we were out and drove through middle-class neighborhoods on our usual back ways and shortcuts. We saw people working in their yards. Some lawns were cut short, and some were on the verge of needing mowing again. None were magazine-cover perfect; all were largely well-tended and neatly presented. Granted, a few had evidence of children, as in toys. However, there are far worse things than a tricycle in the sun on a summer's day.

For the times when it rains just when the lawn needs cutting or when circumstances big or small render a less than perfect estate, I hope that Mr. Foster's future neighbors will cut him more slack than he has afforded to the rest of us.

Appearances do matter. However, substance and honesty beneath the surface matters more.

Kerri Habben

Raleigh