Sunday, October 19, 2008

Each of Us Creates the World

I have visited several blogs recently that have touched me deeply, both with their stories and with the passion of the authors. Visit the recent posts of Orca Watcher on Lolita, A Whale of a Purpose on the Beluga Whales and Creative Freedom Photography on the Giant Panda and you will feel touched, as well, by the dedication and enthusiasm.

Progress is created one person at a time, and the collective voice of individuals creates a momentum of awareness that is more powerful than the wind and the ocean combined.

I am reading Natalie Goldberg’s book, Wild Mind, Living the Writer’s Life. I’m reading it for several reasons, one of which is to stay connected to what I learned and felt at Rose Mountain. But I also read it to go deep. It settles my mind from the day, from whatever is bothersome and troubling on the surface, and from whatever seems insurmountable. Not that reading solves any of these problems. I’m borrowing another deep thinking mind for a while to encourage my own. These are the mentors and the teachers we find in good literature.

In her chapter, “The Dead Year” which is about hard beginnings, Natalie Goldberg writes:
I often say to myself now when writing is hard, “There is no such thing as failure.” The only failure in writing is when you stop doing it. Then you fail yourself. You affirm your resistance. Don’t do that. Let the outside world scream at you. Create an inner world of determination. When someone complained about getting up at five a.m. for sitting meditation, Katagori Roshi said, “Make positive effort for the good.” I repeat that often to myself when pushing the pen across the page feels like I, alone, have the responsibility to make the earth turn around the sun. Well, it’s true. Each of us does create the world. We’d better get to work.

She is writing about her love, writing. I read about writing and I see and hear everything that matters. I hear whales and orcas, and the gentle pandas, and I hear the whooping crane purring to its young. Despite decades of efforts to save the wild migrating population of whooping cranes that winter on the gulf coast of Texas, they are currently being threatened again by the potential development of key marshlands on their wintering grounds and by a new push for cleaner energy that seeks to erect wind turbines in the migration corridor of the most endangered crane in the world without responsibility to confer with wildlife experts on safe co-existence.

There are so many challenges ahead of us. Enough challenges for every single person to make a contribution. Every one of us “better get to work.”

7 comments:

  1. Vickie, how scary to read that wind turbines may go up where the cranes migrate! I have always loved them ever since I first leaned about them and their endangered status. I have never seen one, however and I would so love to. My Mom gave me an old Weekly Reader library discard book called "Cranes in my Corral" for Christmas. It's the true story of Dayton O. Hyde who was one of the first people to try to save the sandhill cranes when they were on the verge of extinction! Published in 1971, it is an amazing story. I had no idea their populations had fallen so far. Of course, I had never even heard of a sandhill crane until 1986 when we moved to Idaho. Now I live in AZ and last year I had the priviledge of seeing over 12,000 of them at Whitewater Draw on my birthday! That book you are reading sounds very interesting! I shall have to check it out. Thanks for visiting my blog!

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  2. Well said. I like how like-minded individuals can come together over the internet and blogging - not only can we share the plights of orcas, belugas, pandas, and cranes, but we find kindred spirits all working towards the same common good. Sometimes its good to remember that you're not working on all this alone.

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  3. "It settles my mind from the day, from whatever is bothersome and troubling on the surface, and from whatever seems insurmountable"

    Reading has such heeling powers, I agree.

    I am troubled by the news of the wind turbines. It would be such an insensitive thing if it happens in the fly way of W Crane populations, which has enough trouble for them.

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  4. Welcome Kathie. It is a scary thought that the prime areas targeted for construction of wind turbines are also the migration corridors of our sandhills and whooping cranes. We all need to watch this issue carefully. Currently there are no recommendatons or requirements in place to ensure that companies consult with USF & Wildlife or adhere to safe marking for both turbines or power lines to help birds avoid collision. Power lines continue to be a major cause of death for whooping cranes.

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  5. Thanks, Monika. It is very nice to meet like minds so many miles apart and to know that, along with the challenges, there are also many others who are concerned, energetic and determined to help wildlife.

    Hi G,
    I've always found reading restful and beneficial in so many ways.

    I am hoping that the widespread knowledge about the whooping crane's struggle back from the brink of extinction will keep people alert and their voices active on issues of protection and safety.

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  6. A lot of great things in this post...I want to take the time to visit each blog and also reread your post...the book sounds really wonderful as well. I think that is what drew me to your blog, the mixture of the art and the writing as well as a true heartfelt love for nature. We all need to be concerned for the plight of endangered species, and you are helping the cranes by being vocal and with your art. I appreciate that so much.

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  7. Thank you for visiting tile lady, and for your kind comments.

    I often think, why do we allow species to become endangered at all? We have the intelligence, the resources and the means to both study wildlife ecology and monitor species numbers, and yet, we wait until its almost too late to take action.

    The good news is there are many concerned stewards who are making their voices heard and that is progress in the right direction.

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For the Love of It...

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Your Uncapped Creativity...

Your Uncapped Creativity...
"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action; and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. If you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. You must keep that channel open. It is not for you to determine how good it is, nor how valuable. Nor how it compares with other expressions. It is for you to keep it yours, clearly and directly." ----the great dancer, Martha Graham