Swan Sanctuary

Reproductive health care is every woman’s right, so it is no surprise that President Biden is rescinding the Mexico City Policy, which was a move by the previous administration to prevent abortions. Our bodies do not belong to the government, or to anyone else for that matter. If a woman chooses to end a pregnancy, it is her choice alone. We have hungry children in this country and all over the world. We have children who are starved for love and even for the simple comforts of a roof over their head and running water. We have children whose mother or even both parents are addicted to drugs – or they are in prison. We have too many unwanted children growing up in foster homes. We have irresponsible parents who neglect their children. Most importantly, we have a world that is over crowded with humans, creating an imbalance which is forcing the extinction of thousands of other species.

We have doctors who support lives artificially, rather than letting nature take its course – survival of the fittest. The quantity of human life has taken precedence over the quality of life. The ego has become involved where higher wisdom should have been consulted. While so many children are in need of loving families, couples spend thousands of dollars on artificial insemination, wanting children “of their own”. But, they are ALL our children. Despite our skin color or our ethnicity or our religion, we are all connected. We should ensure the quality of life for all children. We should recognize that all of us will die at some point, regardless of whether we are one month old, 95 years old, or still in our mother’s womb. Perhaps the right-to-life enthusiasts should consider that same right for the animals that lived in the forest they just clear cut – or for the beneficial insects that they eradicated with pesticides. We all deserve a quality life. We all deserve ownership over our own bodies. We deserve the right to choose. May our choices reflect the greater good for the world.

It is with great relief that I read in today’s news, that President Biden will be “pausing” new oil and gas leasing on public lands, and offshore. This is another step in the right direction. On his first day in office he re-entered the Paris Climate Agreement and repealed the permit for the Keystone pipeline that Trump had foolishly pushed forward. There will no doubt be pushback and disagreement by those who remain ignorant and stubborn in their refusal to acknowledge climate change. Our new president’s purposeful steps to combat this serious problem does not currently prevent extraction on private, state, or tribal lands; but at least it is a step.

I am encouraged that the Biden Administration is looking at the big picture. They know that simply putting a stop to current practices will do little to reduce greenhouse gases. It will basically require the revamping of nearly every aspect of modern human life. As more people become aware of the problems our world is facing, there will be more who join the ranks of those seeking solutions. We must work towards and quickly reach that place where we are no longer dependent on fossil fuels. We must arrive at a new paradigm where electric cars, solar power, and sustainable farming are the rule and not the exception. When the race consciousness arrives at knowing that we are NOT separate from nature, but PART OF IT, we will be able to make giant strides in our human evolution. We must step down from this false mountain of superiority before it crumbles beneath us, or melts like the polar ice caps, dropping us to our demise. Instead of trying to control nature, we must approach her with humility and reverence so that she can teach us her mysteries. By seeking her wisdom and not merely intellectual knowledge, we are taking the first step, merging onto the highway of global healing. If we are to stop the devastation that has been left behind, by greedy perpetrators who never looked back, we must get their attention. We must help them to see where they have been blind. We must ask them to change their ways – not for themselves, but for their children’s children’s children.

So many of our expectations for ourselves have been based on what society or our parents expected of us. Seldom have people asked themselves what they truly want, because the need to conform and to comply has been instilled in most of us from early on in our lives. For generations past, men were taught that they should acquire a wife, along with a degree, a prominent position in society, and a home. Women were taught that they should find a husband and provide their parents with grandchildren. If we were married and had a spouse, we were generally accepted into the folds of society. Our place in the community, if we were men, was based on our ability to acquire and to achieve. If we were women, we were expected first to serve our husband by performing wifely duties and only then, and only if it did not interfere with our primary duty, we could pursue our own career. Thankfully, times have changed. The stigma of marital status; however, remains with us. We have had but one president – James Buchanan in 1856 – who did not bring a wife with him to the White House. In his case, the role of First Lady was filled by his niece. 

The times are changing still and they always will; usually progressing in baby steps, but sometimes in milestones. The election of Barack Obama was a more recent milestone. With Kamala Harris as our new vice president, we have taken yet another giant step; and we now have a Second Gentlemen instead of a Second Lady in the White House. Perhaps one day, in the near future, we will see an indigenous American hold the highest office in our nation. A new generation of women are becoming inspired and motivated to ask their own hearts to guide them, rather than an outdated social construct. 

In 1969, the musical group, The 5th Dimension, recorded their song, Aquarius. Many believed at that time, that we had reached the dawning of a new era. According to some astrologists, the planets are moving from the age of Pisces into the age of Aquarius. There has been disagreement as to when the new age will actually begin, and controversy as to the changes that it will bring about. One thing I think we can all agree on, is that 2020 was a year of great change, of great loss (of lives, due to COVID) and of great achievement (the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris). Mine was a generation who believed in the power of love and of peace. In their song, The 5th Dimension suggests that the Age of Aquarius  will usher in “Harmony and understanding, sympathy and trust abounding.” While none of us knows for sure what the future may bring, their lyrics implore us to, “Open up our hearts” and “Let the sunshine in.”  We can set aside the outdated ideas of “acquiring” and set our sights instead, on achieving equality, freedom, and well-being for all.

Once upon a time winter was a quiet time. The other day I was walking in the cemetery, but it was not quiet. Three employees walked along with leaf blowers attached to their arms, blowing leaves into a pile. At least they were blowing them in the same direction that the wind was blowing – at 40+ MPH. The cemetery is planted with numerous evergreens, mostly blue spruce and ponderosa pine, but all of the lower branches, up to about 15 feet, have been cut off. I presume this is to prevent them from growing over the tombstones that have been adorned with garish plastic flowers and angel figurines. The desecration of and the deprivation, by the removal of the trees’ lower limbs, detracts pitifully from their beauty. They are further violated when they are starved, by removing the fallen leaves that would have fed the soil beneath them, which in turn would have fed the trees through their roots. This is all done in the name of dead bodies that are no longer occupied by their former souls.

This morning there is a neighbor across the way cutting a mountain of firewood with a chainsaw. Added to its intrusive hum are the snowblowers that join in harmony to remove last night’s freshly fallen snow. All of this noise, all of this disregard for life is considered normal. Both the people creating the noise, as well as those who must listen to it, simply block it out with headphones blaring in their ears, or by turning up the volume on their TV’s; but there is no escaping the noise. Even in the few remote areas, the quiet is often disturbed by an airplane or a drone flying overhead. 

The quietness of a winter’s day has been lost to most of us. The quieting of our own mind is the best that we can hope for.

For most of my lifetime, I have lived in a youth oriented society. Age, wrinkles, grey hair, and slowness are eschewed by most of the younger generations. There is an overwhelming collective behavior among women, to color their hair, get breast implants and other cosmetic surgeries, wear layers of makeup, and dawn false eyelashes and false fingernails. Both sexes have become preoccupied with their bodies by engaging in running, cycling, working out, and participating  in numerous sports. While their credentials and financial status, and their position in life provides them security and a false sense of self-worth, few of them possess wisdom.

There once was a time when elders were respected and looked up to for their wisdom. They were treated with kindness and some degree of reverence. This was especially true among indigenous societies. As an adolescent, my own grandmothers were dearer to me than any other adults in my life. I cannot say that my own grandchildren feel the same for me. Since my daughter’s return from deployment one month ago, she and my granddaughter have been living here with me. My granddaughter has not spoken ten words to me during that time. I gave up years ago, trying to establish relationships with my grandchildren. They barely acknowledge my existence. They live for the most part, un-disciplined, self-absorbed, and with their heads staring into their phones. I asked my granddaughter, when she came home from school yesterday, if any of her teachers had talked about the inauguration. She had no clue that it was a historic day. She did not know that we had just witnessed sworn in, our first ever female and black vice-president. And, she could have cared less.

Today I am grateful that we have a wise elder in our White House. Many complained that he is too old. They complained that Bernie Sanders (who would have also made a great president) was too old. I know that President Biden’s forty plus years of experience and his accumulated wisdom, is exactly what our country needs at this time in history. I do not know; however, how to change the prevailing attitudes about age. I am reminded of the 1970’s song by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Teach Your Children. “Just look at them and sigh – and know they love you.”