pollution

This fall, I clearly saw the ripple effect of pollution.  There was symbolic pollution, as town hall meetings were filled with a toxic mix of angry confrontation and political theater. There was personal pollution as I spent more than a month discarding the detritus accumulated during thirty-two years in our house—canceled checks from banks that have been defunct for twenty years, painted rocks lugged home from summer camp, the ashes of a beloved dog finally released into his special spot.