Heavenly Temple

Dutifully, we followed up a vist to the Forbidden city with a visit to the Temple of Heaven. Picking up where we'd left off the day before, we walked from Qianmen (just south of Tienanmen square) through an awkwardly deserted and very recently remodeled street of shop-fronts. At Ying's suggestion I tried to imagine that I was part of an Emperors regal parade from the Forbidden city to the Temple of Heaven. This is in part where an emperor went to make prayers for his kingdom - asking for a bumper harvest or giving thanks for a battle won. It was our task to each find our own prayer for humanity and make an offering at the Temple of Heaven.
As we sat huddled in the shade of a short rock wall, thinking about our wishes for humanity, I plucked at the grass growing stubornly up through cracks in the stone pavers. Ihad four stems in my hand, each branching out into three seed heads. With four seasons and twelve signs of the zodiak, I decided that the grass seed was a very suitable offering. I asked Brooke and Steven to help me make the offering - so we linked our hands together, holding the grass seed. My wish for humanity is world-wide cooperation in nurturing the diversity of plant life that we need to sustain ourselves and our children.