Wisdom of the Melt

I take my cues from nature.  I always have.  As I get older I find there is no greater source of knowledge and perspective than natural systems and their inhabitants.  I don’t include humans as inhabitants of these systems.  I believe that we have lived in our own artificial creation for so long, we have lost touch with the basic wisdom and truth that is readily available in the natural world.

This week brought liquid snow, or ‘rain’ as it is more commonly known outside of New England winters.  The mounds of snow that had hidden layered months of leaves and detritus melted away reveling a not so beautiful aspect of the season, the dirty things trapped in between the storms.

As I passed drifts of brown road snow reveled by the rain it occurred to me that time is like snow.  It separates the nasty bit of our deeds and doings, holds them suspended and away from each other allowing us time to minimize and cover our ugliness.  White washing the past in beautiful, glittering, forgetful drifts.  It makes it easier to pretend that we are made of the things we say we are during the time in-between our actions and not the actions themselves.

I have tried my hardest over the past year to keep my opinion about the state of our nation to myself and off of this site.  Like all promises made in haste, time has made a liar out of me.  I have always abhorred politics and politicians across the board.  I marveled at our simultaneous recognition that most of the people we elect have no perspective on what it is like for the majority of us to live in America and our ability to elect them to represent us.

Since I was aware of the word, I have always defined our government as an oligarchy.  Money and power are inextricably linked in my mind when it comes to the system of our own governance and as the years have passed my conclusion has become more concrete.  There have been glimmers of hope, but it seems the outcome of any contest can be predicted by the dollars expended on either side.  The true cost of such a system is a far different thing.  The constant loser always the environment, who’s value cannot be measured monetarily, only spiritually.

I think that politicians should have to live under laws they pass since it seems so often they are making laws on things they have never experienced.  They sew seed without regard for the fruit it will bare; as they have their own orchards far from those fields and more often than not, other people to harvest the crop.  How can this be a representative form of government when those governing and those governed live in two distinct realities?

There is a wonderful quote from Maya Angelo that says “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

Unfortunately, it is only after the rain melts away the snow of time that we see the summation of deeds clearly for what they are.  A consistent track record laid bare without the separation of time and the benefit of forgetfulness.  What a person says publicly can be used to extrapolate about the private inner thought that guide their actions.

There is not a single thing that has happened in the past year from that corner of the nation that has surprised me.   I didn’t need the layers to melt away to tell the materials that lay beneath.  Also, there is no reason for change, when the method results in the things desired.  Only in the fullness of time will we know the complete toll those actions have wrought to our nation as a whole.

It is a sad state of affairs. Above all I fear for our land, the natural resources that are being monetized and devalued in order to further line the pockets of those who have more than enough already.   I cannot expect different from people so out of touch with basic humanity, struggle and the peace of natural spaces.  People do not value what they don’t understand.

All I have is the knowledge that the rain is coming.  It will reveal starkly the accumulation of actions.  I am not holding out hope that it will change anything, as I think these things were known by those who’s job it should be to protect the masses from threats, both foreign and domestic.  I believe that there is too much in it for them personally and so all we can do it speak the truth plainly, hold on tight.  I will pray that the concepts we built this nation on are stronger than the layers of garbage that have been heaped upon it- in the name of gain for the few who already have enough.

It is contrary to everything we have been told this country was founded on.  I think the recent cultural rain makes that clear.  The most important things remain the same; be kind even when the situation isn’t.  Stand up and speak truth; truth itself is silent it has no voice of its own.  Love everyone as much as you can stand; even when they are wicked and selfish, how else will they know what it feels like?  It is often when these things are most difficult to do that they are the most important to embody.

Be well.