Ch.44 (cont.)
I excused myself and went outside and
just sat in the open air. The aroma of wood burning filled the air, and at
times became more intense. There was something very unnerving when it came to being
in the presence of an ongoing forest fire. Subtle reminders to how fragile our
environment is and that is when you see the multitude of insects and you start
thinking of all the years it takes to grow trees , over thirty-five hundred years they say for the General Sherman , which
isn’t the oldest tree on earth but is close . Ferns five to six foot tall , peat
moss so soft if walked upon, would cushion your step as though walking on a
thousand pillows suspended over air. A plentitude of biological divarication in
the ashen remains of a forest fire forever suspended and now fodder for future
generations of new plants destined to replace and rejuvenate the same soils in
an ongoing biological consequence of nature. Forest fires erase history, and
let everything start anew from that point on. . I only hoped I could see the General
Sherman tree at least once before it met its demise.
This took me back to an earlier time in my
life when living on his grandpa’s farm with my mom and my three siblings. My
uncle who owned a skating rink asked me to come along with his family which consisted
of my cousin and my aunt at the time. Preparations were made to pick me up as I
was quite small at the time, being age four or five and take me skating for the
first time. I remembered it was a large
building that bordered a lake in the local town park and it was quite busy that
night and I spent most of my time around
the outside of the rink learning how to skate. I could remember my cousin
taking me up a ramp and then I would wipe out learning that gravity sucked especially
when skating but all in all I had a good time. It was after we left that night,
that is my uncle, cousin and aunt, and myself to take me home, a fire started
in the old building apparently close to the fuel tank and it was soon a fire that
raged out of control and soon devoured the building the rink was in. My uncle
lost his business to the fire.
Every
time I pass that location I cannot help but think of how that affected my uncle
and my cousin’s life from there on. Not in a life changing way but still it
always had an impact on their future most assuredly the same as it has an
impact on all creatures large and small and everything that makes up our
environment when fire ravages their
life.
Winds may blow and winters snarl their
wrath, the strong survives all, but a fire is something to which all life
succumbs that doesn’t escape. This is the
process of which we must become accustomed to as an increase of forest fires is
becoming more prevalent as global warming creates droughts and those arid dry
conditions that when a chance, and a spark come together, it will create the horrid
fiery infernos that consume everything and leave the carbon remains of life
suspended into nothing but a memory to all that survives, much the same as my
memory of the old skating rink.
I
sat there in deep thought oblivious to all that went on . Worrying about
something I cannot control and wondering if there was some way i could make a
difference other than what I have proposed. I am reminded of how chicken little
yelled ‘The sky is falling’, ‘The sky is falling’, one to many times , and soon alienated
everyone, so that when indeed it was falling, they ignored the warnings. If Paul
Revere and the Minutemen rode daily for weeks through the local towns in New England
shouting daily ‘The British are coming’, ‘The British are coming’. Would the
revolutionary war have had a different outcome? Most assuredly. News becomes noise after a
while. You may hear a headline but rarely do you scratch below the surface to
find out how it may affect you. Most times news doesn’t affect you personally
but instead invokes emotions, good or bad.
Bad
emotions invite ignorance as we only want to hear those positive things we
enjoy in life. Good emotions can be hard luck stories where profit is learned
from past tragedies. These we invite into our life, but trying to put a
positive spin on total devastation or avoiding that same devastation is hard to
do. Let alone the supposed outcome of a future event like global warming.
Persistent effort
at education through subtle means seems to work the best and it was then at
that moment I decided to chronicle my trip to Sequoia National Park as an
example of how things can go bad. Part of an ongoing effort I dedicate myself
to , not making people aware of the bad but instead of how ignorance of an
event is making us all subjects to the consequences of that event. If we ignore
global warming more and more fires and weather tragedies , be it hurricanes
tornados or whatever, it will eventually take those things dear to us and at
same time make our lives harder to enjoy and allowing us less freedom to enjoy
those things about nature that will be forever lost if global warming continues.
Thirty five hundred years, longer than the
chronicles of the Bible allow for. The
General Sherman tree is purported to
exist, a blink in the scientific timeline explanation of time, but still a blink.
and yet is now faced with an early extinction. Not from natural process but from instead a manmade
extinction as a result of our migratory habits of man utilizing resources
better left locked deep in the earth , but instead released only for instant gratification
of humans . Satisfying their thermal needs and their personal greed, while yet other
sources of natural energy are left abandoned that would make no difference on
the overall ecosystem. Now those fossil fuels are threatening our whole
ecosystem and yet we blindly forge ahead as if there was a planet b. this
ignorance of man would lead a planet b to the same demise if we were able to
secure one. I doubt if anything would change if humans were given the chance do
something right again. It seems we learn a lot from our mistakes, but greed is
an emotion we have no control over. Having enough to sate our needs is never enough,
but instead any individual with enough always wants more. It is this want that
gets us into trouble. Be it women, profits, or money, having enough is never an
option among those that have it as they always want more. A little love is
never enough. We are the only animal that lets our greed affect our livelihood
and keeps us from being content. There are some who can be content with little,
but they are a few and do not represent a leveraged option to change anything
especially the effects of events we are already under the influence from. A planet
b would make no difference and that it would only be an extension of what we
have here on Earth as once again we plunder the resources, and ravage that
source of life for our mere existence.
Wow I thought I can’t believe those were
all my thoughts and yet my negativity is a bright spot in the whole scheme of
things as long as one individual cares about where we as humans are headed then
there is something we have that other animals don’t and that is a conscience
knowledge of hope and where it can lead us. I always hoped Leann would come
back into my life , even though she won’t, I know she had touched my soul and
left me longing for the same type of relationship we had for such a short time.
Darla will benefit from Leann’s absence and yet still, there is something about
my resolve that lets Deb be attracted to me. This I can thank Leann for. She
was a star pointing me in the direction life appointed to me. Darla was my destiny
and my guidance listening and believing in me while making sure I do not want
for more. I have enough money I have enough love, and I want for nothing more
than to exist in nature and leave nothing but a path to enlightenment. To put
down in words that there is hope that we can survive in harmony with nature, and
that our lives are worth something. That this life is a stepping stone for all
mankind where one day we will learn to be at peace with nature instead of
living against it. A hope we need to
find. All I have to do is put it down in words . tomorrow I thought as I see Lee
and Ann’s Ford Escape make itself name worthy again as once again it ferries
its passengers away from danger. Ann knew what she was doing when she bought
that car from Dealing Dan.
I came out of my funk and arose to meet Lee
and Ann. A handshake for Lee and a hug for Ann were the norm as well as broad
smiles as once again we were reunited. As well, Darla came out of the Road Warrior,
and Deb followed as greetings were extended as Darla did the right thing and
presented Deb to Lee and Ann as part of our group. It was an emotional event as
once again we shared a bond we all needed. With a rousing, ‘ Let’s eat!’, as Darla
signaled breakfast was ready for all. We all retreated inside the Road Warrior
and talked and ate.
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