I spent the day in our nearby city. I go there to work, but on those trips, I just go straight there and back again, always skirting round the edges. Today, I was in the heart of the beast, navigating through endless, oppressive bureaucracy and the overwhelming frustration of a broken, incompetent medical system. It is a chaotic, cramped, miserable place filled to the brim with unhappy people and a poverty of spirit. The endless asphalt walls, relentless traffic, metal detectors, armed guards, light, noise...it all presses in, crowding out reason.
Home again, shed of the constrictions of so-called civilization, flashlight in hand and a good dog at my side, we head out in the dark to walk the starlit woods. The only sounds, the scree-scrunch of hard-packed snow, the distant howl of a coyote, a far off dog calling back and the soft hooting call of an owl. Standing in the still, calm, dark of a night wood, stars and moonlight shimmering above and in the ice below, the world opens, the noise recedes, tension ebbs. I feel safe here, where the dangers are of the earth rather than our own making.
How is it that we have gone so far away from this? That most would fear to walk beside me in the dark yet call the chaos home. How is it that we have given over our jobs of growing and tending, trusting them to the uncaring ways of agribusiness? Believing that the never ending need for increased profit shares will somehow provide healthy food and good earth. All this in exchange for the harsh angles, hard lines, unforgiving planes and the coldness of a concrete life.
How did we get here and is there a way back?
Yep, I wonder the same things.
ReplyDeleteWhenever things feel too complicated I head out to the woods. People don't get that.
ReplyDeleteCivilized? Is the city really a civilized place? It feels so foreign.
Perhaps that is because I feel more at peace with the animals for they won't lie to you and you always know exactly where you stand with equine and dogs.
What a question for Saturday morning as I reluctantly plan my ride through the traffic to the flower market!!
ReplyDeleteIt is clear, however that you live where you belong. I'm still looking for that same peace you felt in the night woods, and not sure where in the wild world I'll find it.
I have no idea. Sad, isn't it...
ReplyDeleteBeautifully written.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully written, and all together too true.
ReplyDeleteIt is getting overwhelming and frustrating to navigate anything necessary to our lives -- healthcare, financial, insurance... Your writing has been very eloquent lately. Saw on FB that it is your birthday. Best wishes for the day and the year ahead.
ReplyDeleteWe certainly hear you.... I ask the same questions whenever I touch 'civilisation' - not much civil to be found in most towns and cities.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday if the comment above is correct :-)
I could read this again and again! It is so true! You write beautifully!
ReplyDeleteLovely photo of donkeys in snow. Here in the Costa Blanca we only get occasional snow high up on the Sierra Aitana and a sprinkling on Puig Campana. My donkeys never need coats, except for the fluffy extra coats they grow themselves in winter. I have added your blog to my blog roll on http://brotherlapin.com We lead similar lives of rural peace with animals, punctuated by weekday journeys to the mad urban workplace!
ReplyDeleteNot just the profit motivation of agribusiness but the unhealthy, un-nutritious food being provided to us all.
ReplyDeleteWow. You said it all, my friend, and profoundly. I thank God every day for the blessings of living here.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry I missed your birthday, Kris! I hope you had a wonderful day! :)
My mom grew up on a farm and hated being away from civilization. She vowed to move away from there as soon as possible. She got to work in the city for a couple of years but then ended up in small towns - - - until the mid-seventies. The day after our youngest brother graduated from high school, she moved to Albany, NY and was there until 7 months before dying. She LOVED it - - - lived downtown by Rockefeller Plaza. We enjoyed visiting with her but never understood how a person slept through the traffic all night - - - especially when the fire station across the street went out on calls. My husband and I live in TN at the back of a subdivision surrounded by a wooden area behind us. It's so peaceful and we love it. We are five minutes from major stores - - the best of both worlds.
ReplyDeleteSo refreshing to find your blog and read your words. I live in an urban neighborhood, but I do what I can. We have hens and gardens and fruit trees. In some ways I think the tides are changing and that being eco-responsible is really starting to happen on a larger level. Then today, while driving around, by daughter got a whiff of a fast food chain. IT STINKS! she, said. Agreed.xo
ReplyDeleteI don't know how we got here but I'm with you; scared on a city street, happy in the darkness of the bush at night. Always happiest to have a good dog or two beside me. :) People raised in the cities don't know what they are missing and maybe some do but can't find an income there. My husband and I must live on the outskirts of a city because the sort of job he has and is good at and loves is a city one. He is very happy to come home to the hills at night though!
ReplyDeleteI know exactly how you feel. Beautiful post (really). I was right there with you the whole day and glad you got a little redemption in the end.
ReplyDelete