Remember Beauty

In this time of fast-moving changes, dire predictions for the earth and ocean’s future, and political infighting that is, at best, unsettling, let us look to nature and poetry for reassurance.

William Wordsworth lived from 1770-1850, in far different times from ours. Yet, the first lines of one of his most famous poems is perfect for these times:

The World is Too Much With Us

The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;

The winds that will be howling at all hours,

And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;

For this, for everything, we are out of tune;

It moves us not . . .

When it became clear to me in February that Standing Rock would enter the phase of closing down the main camp and transitioning to an as of yet unknown new phase, I knew it was time to head to the snowy mountains and re-gain some perspective.

Ann cross-country skiing, photo by Carl Hoerger

Lots of snow in the mountains this year, photo by Ann Linnea

So much snow that campground structures have nearly disappeared, photo by Ann Linnea

And what is the perspective I gained . . . Remembering Beauty. It has returned as my daily guidepost. Thank you to long-time friends, Janelle and Carl, who reminded me of the joys of track skiing!

And with that, a little story from the closing days of Standing Rock’s Osceti-Sakowin Camp. During all of January and February a small crew of folks worked diligently to carefully salvage donated food and clothing. They drove it to nearby food banks and thrift stores. They worked in between blizzards. They worked during thaw and mud conditions. They needed more time than the Feb. 22 eviction gave them, but they did a valiant job.

May each of us continue to do our “one piece” of work diligently and carefully.

Ann happy in the snowy world, photo by Carl Hoerger