An Ordinary Guy–Unintentionally Changing the World.

This is the story of an ordinary Wayne resident. A guy who doesn’t get involved in local politics or do-gooder groups or anything of that nature. He has only lived in Wayne for a few years, so he doesn’t have that nostalgic feeling for the more prosperous Wayne of the past. He has no desire to change the world.

Mike, an ordinary guy.

Most days you can find him out in the yard watering, mowing, weeding or tending to his little corner house in some way or another.

Early one morning in May, he turned to his wife (that’s me) as they sat on the front porch drinking their morning coffee and  he said, “I was thinking about putting a pot of flowers on each of the four corners here. Do you think the neighbors will mind, the corners are sort of theirs, too?” And he walked out across the yard to the corner to demonstrate his vision of placing flowerpots near the curbs at the crosswalks.

That night he picked up four brand-new pots, and planted them full of bright yellow marigolds, and pretty pink petunias with the good Miracle Grow soil. He placed them at the four corners of the intersection at Forest Ave & 4th Street.

He was inspired, he said, by the Wayne Ripple Effect flower planting project in the downtown. He says it’s just that he likes flowers around.

The first few days he checked on the pots frequently, knowing they were vulnerable out there unprotected in the public space that has no psychological barrier, no cyclone fence, not even a hedgerow to remind a passerby that this flower pot belongs to someone else.

Flowers on the corner.

He delighted in watching to see if people walking by noticed the flowers and in hearing passersby say to him “did you see these beautiful flowers someone put at the corners”.

Freshly planted.

One neighbor said that she and her daughter drove around the neighborhood to see if anyone else had flowers on the corners. At first they thought maybe the City did it.

Then this week some flowers were stolen from a nearby business and several people–all strangers–expressed concern that these pots were the ones. (They weren’t thank goodness!) People noticed! The flowers MATTER to them.

It’s been almost a month now that the pots have survived out there on the four corners getting more beautiful with each passing day. He just wanted to plant some flowers, but in the process he has inspired pride and concern for our neighborhood, and made the street a nicer place to walk. His flowers say, “People care about this place.”

He doesn’t think of this project as shining testament of one man’s unintentional effort to “Be the change you wish to see in the world“–but I do.

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