Swan Sanctuary

Cat Stevens implored Trouble to go away, in his 1970s song by that title. Some people seem to attract trouble for their entire lives. Even those whose lives appear to be a bed of roses, must watch out for the thorns. We get into trouble when we mistakenly believe that the thorns won’t find us. The truth is, trouble will always find us when we have been complacent for too long. Life, quite simply, would not be life, without its challenges.

A tiger may have hunted successfully one day and his hunger is satiated; but soon his hunger will return and he will have to face the challenge of hunting again if he is to survive. Resisting change and resisting trouble only ensures its persistence.

I find myself resisting the seasonal changes. The cooler nights and shorter days fill me with dread of the ensuing cold and wind and snow. The disappearance of my late summer flowers and the falling of leaves that render the trees bereft of foliage, fills my heart with sadness. The way to see ourselves out of trouble is to look beyond it. If we focus only on the trouble, we increase its power. I know that I must look beyond winter. I must dream of spring when the trees burst forth in blossom and the snowdrops and grape hyacinths thrust their heads through the snow, followed by daffodils and tulips. Without winter, there would be no spring. 

For every winter we face, there is a spring that follows. For every trouble we encounter, there is a time of peace and harmony. For every challenge we face, there is an answer – an answer that will bring us back to the eternal being that we are.

Soon it will be that time again when leaves begin to rain down from the trees. Leaves of red, brown, and gold will carpet the ground and even the streets, to be washed into storm drains or raked into piles to be discarded. This unconscionable practice of sending leaves off to a landfill, or even to a municipal compost pile, is one of the dumbest things human beings have ever devised. 

If you store your leaves in a bin, within two years or less, they will transform into rich, organic soil. However; the leaves that hold all of the nutrients needed by your plants and trees are needlessly sent away; while your plants are doused with chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. Since the beginning of time, Mother Nature has left her leaves to lie, to nurture the next generation of plants and insects. As the layers of leaves build up, the lower layers are broken down by decomposers, returning to the soil the nutrients that were taken by the growing plants. The newly fallen leaves provide protection for overwintering insects and their eggs. The thick layers provide warmth for the plant roots, preventing them from freezing and preventing the soil from heaving. The blanket of leaves shields them from the drying winter winds. They hold moisture so that the plants do not dry out during extended dry periods, when there is no rain or snow. 

When I drive through the neighborhood, I see bright green lawns devoid of all leaf litter. Many of the trees are sadly miss-shapen with dead and broken branches that expose their struggle to survive. The soil beneath them lies bare and is often overtaken by weeds.The soil is depleted and unable to hold water. The water simply runs right through it and the trees continue to suffer from drought. Many of the trees and shrubs have damage from string trimmers and over-spray from herbicides as well.

Most of the shrubs in my yard have been dying, from long before I moved here about a year ago. The years of neglect can be seen in the decaying branches and in the lifeless soil. I have been spreading dead foliage from the garden around the weary plants. Once the leaves begin to fall, I will add them around the shrubs’ perimeters. It may be too late to save the shrubs in this yard, but hopefully my words will encourage others to retain the leaves that fall in their yards. Leaf litter is like gold. It is the most valuable thing on your property. What’s more, it is free. It does not have to be transported in plastic bags or bottles, adding to our already gigantic foot prints. We do not need to spend our hard earned money on manufactured fertilizers or Miracle GroⓇ products. Nature has already provided all that is needed. We need to accept her gifts with thanksgiving – not discard them out of ignorance and our distorted ideas about what is aesthetically pleasing.

It is easy for me to remember the year that I was first married because it was also the 200th birthday of America. Now that my own age is approaching three quarters of a century, that number seems extremely small. Most everything grows at a phenomenal rate at the beginning – children, puppies, bird hatchlings – even seedlings. After that primary spurt of growth, growing slows down. It’s likely that the same holds true for countries. 

Our country is young, bold, impetuous. Like a toddler falling down while learning to walk, our country struggled to become independent of Europe. That independence began nearly 250 years ago. Since then, we have attempted to brazenly impose our will upon the rest of the world, like a rebellious teenager. My grandmother would have been a young woman during that frivolous time known as the Roaring Twenties – a time when the country’s economy was prospering. It was the first step on the path of consumerism – the path we are still on today. 

We have recklessly trodden the gardens of our Mother Earth. Our bloated collective ego has run amok and there is devastation everywhere we turn. Population growth in the United States is slowing down as more women opt for equality. There is more evidence every day; however, that consumerism is not slowing down. If we continue down this road of greed and selfishness, we may end life as we have recently known it. As more people begin to awaken and mature as a nation, we may be forced to take a step backwards. If we are to celebrate another birthday in this country, we will have to set aside our childish ways. We will need to choose a path of tolerance and peace. We will have to realize that being a bully does not make us a great nation. Having a strong military and having guns accessible to even small children, is not a sign of power. It is a sign of fear. The only way that our country can mature, is to release the fear that has held the masses in its grip. We must adopt an attitude of honor and respect for all things and for each other. If we do not, we may not make it to our 300th birthday. The passage of 100 years is nothing, relative to Earth herself; but how the next 100 plays out is up to us.

Envy, we are told, is not an emotion that reflects well on us. I am not sure why the color green is associated with envy, but green makes up a large part of what elicits envy in me – other peoples’ gardens! Driving through the neighborhood, my eyes are constantly roving over the varied landscapes. For instance, driving past one house the other day, I was dazzled by the masses of cheerful orange cosmos swaying gently in front of it. Hollyhocks and foxglove caught my eye as they tossed their pretty blossoms above the fence of another house. At yet another, as I was driving to work, I could hardly take my eyes from the giant spruce with its perfect symmetry and with its lower branches softly caressing the ground below it. Bright maroon hibiscus with burgundy foliage tilted their large saucer faces towards the road as I passed by. Masses of orange trumpet vine sprawled over the fence next to the dentist’s office. Showy clematis clung to the walls of other houses and delightful zinnias grew proudly in front of some. Walking through neighborhoods, rather than driving, reveals still more flowers lurking in unsuspecting places.

I have grown all of these flowers and several trees and shrubs myself, at one time or another. Sadly, I have had to leave behind far too many gardens that I had nurtured into being. This year I have had a prolific garden that has gifted me with more zucchini, cucumbers, green beans, and tomatoes than I know what to do with. I grew numerous herbs as well, and I started them all from seed. I did not have enough time, nor space; however, for the many, many flowers that I wanted to grow. To be perfectly honest, I doubt that I could ever grow all of the flowers I want, even if I spent eight hours a day for the entire rest of my life doing so. I could never, ever, have too many flowers. So I hope you understand that when I sometimes turn green with envy at the sight of another gardener’s garden, it is really just appreciation. Of course, I could appreciate them more if they were in my own garden!

I have been greatly disturbed by the overturning of Roe v Wade. I keep hearing that we have taken a giant step backwards, after 50 years of moving towards a higher human consciousness. I look around and see that in spite of so much evidence of the destruction of our planet, it continues. The rich and powerful are getting richer and more powerful, while more people are being thrown onto the trash heap of society. It has also been 50 years since Rachel Carson’s, Silent Spring, was published; but the use of herbicides and pesticides has increased rather than decreased. The pharmaceutical companies continue to push their chemically derived poisons onto the unsuspecting public, relying on their ignorance, and on the aggressive marketing pitched at them through their televisions and other devices. The agriculture industries continue to fill store shelves with non-food that is laden with artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives.

My logical mind tells me that we cannot go backwards. Life always moves forward. Still, there is a heavy sense of oppression and hopelessness in the world today. 

I have been watching classic episodes of Little House on the Prairie, a TV series from 1975. One episode that I recently watched reminded me of the power of women, whenever they come together for a cause. Teenaged Mary was punched in the face by a boy, giving her a black eye. The next time he tried to intimidate and hurt her, she fought back. Then all of the other girls on the playground came together and descended on the bully, sending him off with his tail between his legs. Inspired by the girls, the rest of the town then pulled together and walked the boy, and the two adults who were with him (and who had stolen from many of the towns’ people) out of their town.

It won’t be long before women come together, along with people of color and the LGBTQ community, to descend on a government that no longer feels like a democracy. Women will take back their power –  and the power of women together is a power to be reckoned with.

Human beings have always loved to tell – and to listen to – stories. From mythological times right up to the present, we are engrossed in the stories of tragedies and triumph over them. The stories in the bible, classic fairy tales, the numerous fiction novels and our more recent absorption in Hollywood films all contribute to our fascination for other peoples’ stories.

We often get caught up in our own stories as well. Instead of seeing the things that happen to us as events, we take them very personally. Our ego takes over and we seek to judge and to blame. If we have judged an event as bad, we seek to blame someone, other than ourselves, for it. If we can find no one to blame, we blame god. We allow, through our ego, our story to become so large that everything outside of us is merely peripheral. We become either a victim, or victorious. As victims, we repeat our stories over and over to anyone who will listen. Or, we may allow our egos to become so inflated that we take on an attitude of victory and superiority, diminishing everyone outside of ourselves. 

We have collective stories, too. Our current story is of the tragedy happening to our planet and to all of us. Younger generations may want to blame the older ones for the mess they have made, for the global warming that threatens life as we know it. Others may become deeply depressed, believing that nothing can be done to stop it. Some remain in denial, flaunting an air of superiority to mask their fear. The truth is that we are all in this together. If we hold to the belief that we are victims, we lose all hope. If we choose victory, only for ourselves, refusing to do our part for the good of all, we worsen our dilemma. We must set our egos aside, accept our current situation, and do all we can to change it. 

A tragedy is only a tragedy based on our belief about an event. When you subtract judgment and blame, it is merely an event. It is not necessary to conquer a perceived enemy or to dawn a cloak of indignation and righteousness. We can choose to see an event for what it is. We can allow it to teach us and we can choose to view it through the eyes of love. It will take love for each other and for all living things to bring about healing. Love is the only thing that can heal our planet.