Swan Sanctuary

There was a time when a couple opened up a business offering products or services that they had experience with. Maybe they opened a motel, a restaurant, or a bar. They took pride in what they had to offer and became well-known in their town. Sometimes, their establishment would become the place where the locals would hang out. They generally did well enough to support themselves and they were content. 

Then, along came corporations and mergers and big companies buying out smaller ones. They became greedy and quantity over quality took precedence. It was no longer a matter of a person deciding to go into business and then making that business thrive. For example, the owner of the motel I am working at owns five or six motels. Many gas stations can be owned by one person, or they may own several franchises. My first husband was not content to build the practice he had in the town we lived in. He wanted to have a second practice in another nearby location, in order to increase his income. 

The problem with this mindset is that rarely does it win customer loyalty. The owners do not want to invest any more than absolutely necessary, so they cut corners. Sometimes, they save money by using the cheapest products to run the business. In many cases they do most of their cost cutting by paying shamefully low wages. They don’t get reliable help because they are not willing to “invest” in the employee. Most companies now have their products made in third world countries and then shipped back here. 

It is rare these days to see a business that can flourish on its own. Bed and Breakfasts are one of the few businesses that can set themselves apart from the chains and franchises that have become the norm. Many small businesses try to make a go of it, but their overhead eats up most of their profits (since their places of business are owned by the wealthy who own several such properties.) Some people try to eke out a small profit by renting booths at farmers markets or fairs; but it has become increasingly difficult for the average person to get ahead.

I cannot help wondering what would happen if a businessman owned only one motel – instead of several – and made sure that every part of it was well maintained. What if he paid his employees a living wage? There have been a few businesses that claim to be “employee owned.” This seems like a good idea. It would help to boost morale overall, which in turn would help the business succeed. It has been said that we should choose one thing and do it well. Why can’t these business owners be content with only one business, ensuring that it flourishes and that the employees are happy? Greed is the only answer I can come up with because these people are not content with simply having enough. They always want more and yet never seem to be satisfied.

 When I left Colorado, more than twenty years ago, one of my biggest reasons was because of lilacs. I love flowers and lilacs are among my favorites; yet almost without fail we would get a heavy snowstorm just as the lilacs were getting ready to bloom. I was delighted to see a small lilac shrub here in my Wyoming yard when I moved in last fall. The buds are getting close to bursting forth into delicate, vibrant purple flower clusters, but another freeze is expected on Friday and Saturday. It is a cruel trick that Winter plays almost every year in this part of the country, but I have grown wise to his mean streak. I know that Spring will be here and gone in the blink of an eye, to be followed by her friend, Summer. If the seasons were children, Spring would be the timid one, sweet and endearing, while her siblings – Summer, Autumn, and Winter – vie for attention.

Spring will always be my favorite time of year, however short lived and subtle her arrival. The early bulbs that so bravely emerge, even on the coldest of late winter days, are food for the soul after the long fast of winter. The trees that blossom in unison are a pure delight; but they are gone all too soon when the wind whips up, causing flower petals to float like soft rain from the sky.

I have worked mostly outside for the past one third of my life, so keeping an eye on the weather has become a habit for me. I am prepared for whatever surprises Winter still has up his sleeve. I will cover the lilac bush with a large sheet to protect it from frost. It will look ghostly under the waning moon, but the fragile blossoms will still have the chance to flaunt their heavenly scented fragrance. And I will get to wear lilacs in my hair one more time.

With water sources drying up in many parts of the country, it is time for homeowners, and renters alike, to re-think the landscaping around their homes. Grass requires constant upkeep with mowing and fertilizing; and it uses far more water than can be justified. People who want large expanses of a perfectly groomed, weed-free lawn spend a great deal of money to keep it that way. They do not understand that regularly applying fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides, that run off into the storm drains, is harmful and that those poisons culminate in nearby streams, rivers, lakes, and eventually the ocean, where they are responsible for the degradation of aquatic life. Their lawns are mostly devoid of life since grass does not provide food or shelter for native life forms. The good bugs are killed right along with the bad ones whenever pesticides are applied and nearby trees and shrubs are damaged from the overspray of herbicides, as well as from string trimmers. Gas guzzling lawn mowers contribute to both air and noise pollution. People who regularly allow the use of poisonous chemicals in their yards and in their homes, are not only responsible for the disappearance of bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects; they are also subjecting themselves, their children, and their grandchildren to possible health issues down the road.

There is a way to have a lovely yard without grass, which will be pollinator and wildlife friendly and pleasant for people. Even those yards that are sadly neglected, with depleted soil, weeds, and yellow spots left by dog urine, can be made to look more appealing, requiring less work, less water, and no mowing. There are several good choices for alternative ground covers that look nice and offer a benefit for other life forms. Creeping thyme, creeping phlox, chamomile, and even creeping Charlie, which is considered a weed, are great for sunny areas and they have flowers to provide nectar for bees. Clover is one of the best choices because it is a nitrogen fixer and helps to improve the soil. For your shady areas, you can consider sweet woodruff, snow on the mountain, pachysandra, and lily of the valley. If you live in a very humid area, moss makes a wonderful ground cover. Corsican mint is another good choice and helps to repel insects when planted near your doors and windows. Not only do these ground covers look pretty, but many of them smell wonderful as well.

We can each do our small part to help in reversing climate change. We can assist Mother Nature by working with her and not against her. We can take that small step of reducing our lawn, which in turn will reduce our water consumption. Now is the perfect time.

Most everyone knows that Wyoming gets a lot of wind. In Wheatland; however, it almost never ceases. When I listen to it, I can easily visualize an angry god slashing his whip because a child had broken his mother’s priceless vase. In fact, the Earth is priceless and our Mother is angry. Can you blame her? 

The wind has been ferocious this year – even worse than in previous years. It has been windy in places that rarely have strong winds. Gusts topping 70 MPH and more are felling trees and flipping over semis on the highway. In spite of the warmer temperatures, I cannot take my seedlings outside, for fear they will be decimated after I have spent weeks coaxing them out of their tiny seed shells.

They call the wind Maria. You may remember the song from the movie Paint Your Wagon. I know that many places have wind. Wind can be warm or cold, a gentle breeze, or hurricane force. Clearly, we need it; otherwise the air would be suffocatingly stale. Maria seems to want to stick around this year, for reasons we may choose to ignore. We have talked about global warming and climate change for several years now; but always as though it was out in the future somewhere and it wasn’t really happening. It is happening. It is happening NOW. 

The freakish weather, the droughts, the fires, and the stronger than usual hurricanes are happening and they are happening far more frequently. Homes are being destroyed. People are migrating and people are fleeing from weather, from oppression, and from war. While more and more human populations become refugees and the number of homeless people increases, will we continue to stick our heads in the sand? Will we continue to allow the wealthy 1% to dictate the law of the land? 

I will continue twirling in this dance with Maria, trying to anticipate and stay one step ahead of her. I take my seedlings out for a few hours at a time to give them the light they need, looking for a spot that is most protected from her brutal assaults. While they bathe in the sunlight, I must make sure that they do not dry out. Yesterday was supposed to be the last frost date for this area, but the meteorologists are predicting yet another freeze by the end of the week. Maria is clearly a force to be reckoned with, but I do not intend to let her win our little battle. I will protect my seedlings at all costs.

 I am always surprised at the lengths to which some people will go, to get companies to fork over lucrative settlements to them. They need money so they find or make a reason to file a grievance, feeling all the while that they are justified in their actions. Many class action lawsuits are filed for legitimate reasons and when they are won, they bring forth needed change. Several class action lawsuits, such as the one environmental activist, Erin Brockovich, brought towards The Pacific Gas and Electric Company of California, for its contamination of drinking water, have brought forth monumental change. Some grievances; however, seem to be an unlikely stretch in manipulating the law to rule in the claimant’s favor. The issues generally make little difference to the attorney because they charge by the hour and care only about winning the cases they take on.

A class action lawsuit is being filed in Illinois against RicolaⓇ, the makers of an herbal cough drop. They are proclaiming that the herbs that are listed on the packaging as inactive ingredients, are misleading; and that they do not provide the therapeutic benefit that the company claims they provide. There are probably hundreds, if not thousands of products, that do not live up to their advertising assertions. The people who are filing the lawsuit say that they had paid a premium price for the cough drops and they felt that it was only the menthol in the product that provided them with relief. If they really believed that, why didn’t they just buy one of the cheaper cough drop brands?

I have used herbs for most of my life and although their healing qualities are far more subtle than man made drugs, they have worked for millennia – and there are no side effects! I have had a bout of springtime allergies in recent weeks with the wind and the air heavy with tree pollen. It has been so intense at times that I was very close to having an asthma attack. I have kept RicolaⓇ in my bag so whenever I feel an asthma attack coming on, I take one of the cough drops. It calms my lungs down almost immediately. These herbal cough drops, in addition to menthol, contain extracts of elder, horehound, hyssop, lemon balm, linden flowers, mallow, peppermint, sage, and wild thyme. The best part is that they contain no artificial color, artificial flavor, or preservatives – and for me that is well worth paying a slightly higher price. Since the Food and Drug Administration does not want to admit that herbs are beneficial, my guess is that RicolaⓇ has to list them as “inactive ingredients” or they would be considered “false” claims. As long as we continue to let Big Pharma run the world, most people will never learn to appreciate the many amazing gifts of herbs that the world has provided us.

I awoke to an overcast sky, which got me contemplating the clouds. Joni Mitchell reminded us in Both Sides Now that some things are lost and some things are gained each day, depending on from which side of the cloud you are looking. At the tail end of Moody Blues The Night (Nights in White Satin) from Days of Future Past, we are asked to decide “which is right and which is an illusion.” A few years after the aforementioned recordings, Richard Bach ‘s Illusions was published. We all have a reason for being here. We have a mission, which is why we find ourselves alive at this time, in the body we happen to be inhabiting. There have been times, when facing challenges, that I just wanted to abort my mission and go home (to my Source.) Bach reminds us; however, that if we are still breathing, our mission isn’t finished. Others have told us that life itself is an illusion – that it is just a dream we are dreaming; but all  these words of wisdom do not prevent us from taking life too seriously. We believe too often that the dream is real. Amy and Emily affirmed for us that “It’s only Life, afterall.” 

Scientists have shown us that we are not even solid, including those things around us. We are actually groupings of molecules and atoms dancing around and vibrating in patterns made to look like something solid. We are like the stars twinkling in the night sky, with vast space as much inside of us, as outside.

People have pondered the idea that perhaps our lives are merely a dream, and that the dreams we have while sleeping, are what is real. If in fact, life is just a dream that we are having, it is time to wake up. The dream of violence, fighting among ourselves, and killing one another, has turned into a nightmare. This horrific dream of destroying other species and our planet is far worse than any horror movie. The only way to end this frightening scene we have created, is for humanity to wake up. We must look beyond the illusions to the other side, where only love is real. If you are still breathing, your mission is not yet finished. The world is depending on you.  This is a dream that we are all having together, but we must look beyond the illusions to transform it from a nightmare, back into a dream.

I question whether this power struggle between pro-lifers and pro-choice activists is actually the moral issue that so many have come to believe it is about. Medical institutions are all about controlling people, all the while making as much profit as they can. They do not stand to make any money from an aborted fetus. They make money off the mothers who willingly place their trust in them. The “routine” exams and ultrasounds are just the beginning of a long term investment that promises ongoing profits for the doctors, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies. The mother’s rights begin to be taken away from the moment her pregnancy is confirmed. Her infant, both pre and post-partum is subject to an array of procedures and vaccinations; and if it is a boy, to circumcision. Her child, like herself, then becomes in many ways, property of the medical system. If a mother refuses medical treatment that she believes is unnecessary, she risks being reported to Social Services (the medical and social law enforcement.) They can claim that she is an unfit mother and seize her child from her. A couple of thousand years ago, the Catholic church had this same level of power.

The large number of women on fertility drugs who seek to have a baby of their own, hand over thousands of dollars to the medical “professionals” in order to make their dream come true. When a woman encounters complications in her pregnancy, doctors will insist on doing a C-section, because they can charge more than they can for a vaginal birth. Babies that are born prematurely will be kept alive with tubes and machines that cost thousands of dollars. This not only ensures huge profits for the doctor, but also adds a notch to his already inflated ego.

I believe that the moral question we need to ask ourselves is not, whether or not abortion is the taking of a life, but is it moral for the medical community to own the lives of mothers and their babies? It really is not at all about “saving” a baby’s life, but about prolonging as many lives as they can to ensure their continued ability to possess nearly all of the world’s wealth. 

The pharmaceutical giants control and manipulate the doctors and hospitals. They have brainwashed the politicians in order to maintain control over women, to strip them of their power. Many women don’t realize that this crusade, led by men who resent the fact that women have been steadily gaining back their power for the past fifty years, is only the first step in taking away all the rights of women and people of color.

All religions were created by men, to control women. The Catholic church has diminished in power, but Big Pharma now fills those shoes. They too, are made up mostly of men who are not about to give up their power. Women; however, are far smarter and stronger than they realize. The pro-lifers may succeed at overturning Roe v Wade, which is really just a smoke screen in their efforts to strip women of all their power. Those women who need abortions will find a way to get them because laws are man-made and laws are made to break. We have more women in our government now. We even have a female vice-president; but these women are being manipulated. If we (women) do not stand up together and unite in the fight for our rights, we could slide backwards; but our children and our daughters are depending on us. Let’s not let them down.

According to an article in Mother Earth News, plants that experience drought early on are able to adapt to drier conditions. However; instead of simply acknowledging this discovery – that yes, plants know how to adapt to change – the article goes on to say that a group of scientists are receiving a 25 million dollar grant to genetically produce drought resistant plants! Okay, so we already know that plants can do this on their own. Why then, do we continue to think that we are smarter than they are? Scientists are getting paid big bucks to produce genetically modified seeds while our reliable heirloom seeds are disappearing. Their justification is to keep food production pace in stride with population growth; but shouldn’t we instead be considering ways to slow population growth and to reduce our wastefulness?

The truth is, we do not have a food shortage. We have a space problem. We simply do not have enough space on our small planet to support 8 billion people. We actually have plenty of food. Many of the “weeds” that are routinely doused with deadly chemicals, are actually edible. The problem is that far too much food is being thrown away in the name of profit. Our gluttony and over consumption, not only in food, but with all of the gifts Nature has provided us, is shameful.

I am sickened by the relentless whining of pro-lifers who refuse to remove the blinders that prevent them from seeing what they do not want to see. I am appalled by the scientists and doctors who feel the need to interfere with Nature by creating life in test tubes, only to satisfy their own desire for power and to satisfy parents who feel that they must have a child of their own genetics. There are thousands of children already in the world in need of food, in need of love.

We do not have a food shortage. We have a shortage of gardeners. We have a shortage of people who know how to be self-sufficient, to thrive and to live in balance with Nature at the same time.

The news that came out this week about a draft that was being written to overturn Roe v Wade, is highly disturbing. I listened to an interview on PBS conducted by journalist Amna Nawaz. She posed some very pointed questions to the Attorney General of Arkansas, Leslie Rutlege, who is on a personal mission to become the next Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas. She appeared to be flustered by the questions, answering in the very typical rote of an evangelical christian. Arkansas is one of thirteen states that would invoke a “trigger law” – an immediate and total ban on abortion should Roe v Wade be overturned. Ms. Rutlege affirmed more than once that banning abortions would be “saving lives of unborn, innocent children.” She answered with a decided, “No” when asked if abortions by medication would be acceptable. The only situation in which she would give even a little, was in the case where continuing the pregnancy would jeopardize the mother’s life.

Amna pointed out that one in five children in Arkansas live in poverty and that there has been a 14% increase in foster care; but the attorney general glossed over those facts, saying that Arkansas could provide “great educational opportunities for children.” She completely evaded the question concerning same sex marriage, emphasizing that each state should be governed by their individual laws. You can listen to the interview here: https://www.pbs.org/video/arkansas-law-to-ban-abortions-if-roe-v-wade-is-overturned-1651620269/ 

On the other side of the coin, we have states that stand strong in their commitment to protect women’s rights and their right to privacy. They are also committed to helping those doctors who perform abortions and who provide a wonderful service to women with unwanted pregnancies. The governor of Connecticut is one of those seeking to expand women’s reproductive rights. He referred to the trigger law as a kind of vigilante justice. 

It is almost unbelievable that we seem to be going backwards in our attitudes about abortion, about racism, and about peace. Fifty years ago we made some giant strides towards a collective higher consciousness. Pro-life people tend to push my buttons because our planet is seriously over populated. These people are completely blind to the fact that they are eliminating and causing thousands of other species to become extinct; ignorantly believing that only human beings matter and that this planet belongs only to us. We need to be saving the lives of innocent birds, animals, fish, amphibians, and insects – not to mention our forests. Pro-life is NOT pro-life when you are murdering every other non-human living thing!