The Sanctification of the Streetlamp

Perchance you have happened upon this: there you are ambulating towards home, or going on an errand, or you just want to enjoy the brisk of the outdoors; when you start to feel that want to absorb more of the world, or just want a change of scenery. So you crane your neck towards the heavens, and it just happens to be that the first thing you see is not the blue sky or the sailing clouds, but a streetlamp. And not just any streetlamp, mind you. Sure it is the same model as any every other one on the sidewalk: old as an artifact and as well-maintained as a journalist's dignity; this one is special, for this streetlamp has been decorated with a nest.

Well, gee, writer, I hear you say. It's but a bit of stuffed fur and straw, nothing to write paragraphs about, and give the text such a lofty title as that.

Well, you are wrong, dear reader. It is a most significant thing. Ask yourself, why did the bird build a nest there? To lay their eggs and continue their generation, indeed. But why a lamppost? Well, there are no trees around. That could be an answer. But, let me provide another answer: that the bird mistook it for a tree.

Okay, so what?, you ask. Well, let me explain.

Suppose the humble bird mistook it for a tree. She saw it's stature as the trunk of the tree, the mossy green sheen as the tree's bark, the metal overhangs as drooping branches, the luminous bulbs as colorful fruits; and decided in her aveic brain that indeed it was a tree, and went forth and made her nest in it.

Well, what happened was a tremendous thing! For when she made her nest upon the streetlamp, she inadvertently provided the metallic object with the essence of a living tree. She gave it grace. And she didn't even know it, and the streetlamp couldn't even fathom it.

But I can and you can, dear reader. Yes, the streetlamp is not a tree. It is not alive in the natural sense, but here was the fulfillment of a function of a tree, providing the tree its image of living. And we can understand this revelation, this enchantment, because we are rational beings, living and breathing; and we can see this change right before our eyes! Here, the atoms of the lifeless entity is given a new identity, here, is the rousing of the dead and telling it, contrary to everything known about it and its lifeless state, that it is alive!

Here, the simple bird saying, "Here, you are a tree now." as if a priest saying, after bringing a man out of the waters, "Here, now you are a Christian now." 

And so the streetlamp is sanctified. And so are we, when we see it. When we truly see it.