Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Inauguration musings

It takes such a long time to reach for the sky
through logging, erosion and anger.
Where do we turn for healing
these hearts untapped?     ...LPC

This youngster stands at the edge of a clearing created when an Elder crashed to the earth.  She stands in the shadow of her community, which has and will continue to absorb the chaos created by the force of what came before.  She stands in the sunlight pouring through the gash in the canopy.  She may thrive here.  



The forest floor appears trashed.  The rubble created by the fall of the Giant looks insurmountable.  The communities will clean it all up, some in co-operation, some in predatory take-over.  What looks like rot is the work of an Intelligence far beyond my comprehension, cleaning up the alleged "mess."


A giant Redwood stands tall and majestic for centuries.  It bends and sways and sings in the harsh winter environment of the Northern California Coastal region.  It has sheltered populations of humans, birds, deer, salamanders, bear, lynx, salmon and innumerable plant and insect life.  The Redwood stands in community:  without her sisters and brothers she falls.  The Redwood forest holds itself up by intertwining its branches with its neighbors, as the enormous tree has a shallow root system and NO taproot (the root which anchors many in the plant world).

The Redwood gathers moisture from the fog in its uppermost branches and sends the drops down, level by level, until they form rivulets of water streaming down the giant trunk to the ground.  The drops also create a "rain" which falls from the high branches to the the lower.  In this way, the forest harvests its water to nourish the whole forest.

The Inauguration Ceremony was for me, an inspiration.  Perhaps the biggest and maybe most difficult task before us, is the one of learning to live in community.  For instance, the Redwood does not slough-off the Poison Oak from climbing to great heights up her magnificent trunk.  No, Poison Oak takes her secrets toward the sky, and blazes bright red every fall, a little closer to the high blue!  

Our job in the coming months is one of embracing this Life.  Mmmmm.  Yes, that Includes all and everything I may find distasteful, or less-than; all that annoys me, frightens me, bothers me.  It includes corrupt politicians, ugly-nasty people and abandoned fighting roosters.  

Oh.  There is much to be done!

Much Love, and Tenderness...

xoxoLC


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

abandoned fighting roosters?
hmmm
There is something about the solitude of the woods, that gives you a moment to reflect, on choices, places, and things to do.
how lucky that you can wander there..
and find yourself, and nothing.

 
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