Swan Sanctuary

We have at long last reached the end of 2020. It is a year that will go down in history as the year of COVID and a political nightmare. It is the year from which we can only hope our mistakes can be learned from and from which peace will emerge. In reality, time does not exist. It is our human construct with which we mark the passing of events. So tomorrow, most likely, will not be much different from today. 

We can make New Year’s resolutions any day we choose to make them. We can choose at any moment to let go of resentments, bad habits, hatred, or anger. If we make a mistake, we can vow to begin again tomorrow. We can make the choice, at the beginning of each brand new day, to be kind. We can begin each new day asking how we can serve, rather than how we can take. We can ask what we can do individually to benefit all, collectively. We can do this today and tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that; because each day we are given a brand new day to love, to spread joy, and to radiate peace. Today is a brand new day. How will you choose to show up today?

I am ready to be done with winter; although it is just getting started. We are currently in the middle of what the meteorologist called “an extended snow event”, where it snowed just a little, remained cold and cloudy, and then snowed a little more. Repeat. We had a similar event a few weeks ago. Snow arrived early this year – before Halloween – and in this part of the country we cannot be assured of its departure until the middle of May. Granted, there are a lot of people who like snow, even spring snows. They are the snow sportsmen – skiers, snowshoe enthusiasts, and snowmobilers. They are not gardeners.

This winter may bring much wanted snow to the ski areas, but with COVID and the resulting quaranteens, business closures, and financial loss to many, it is possible that the ski resorts will struggle to remain open. This is good news for the animals and birds that reside in those snow covered mountains. With any luck, their snowy habitat will be unencumbered by humans and snowmobiles. They may possibly have some peace and greater access to their food sources. They may be able to cross the road without fear of being run over.

It seems that there remains almost no areas of our planet where humans have not encroached, robbing millions of other species their right to life. Too many people feel that this planet belongs to them alone. If I knew the snow could stop the stripping of mountains, to create playgrounds for the rich, I would welcome the snow. If I knew it could put a stop to the endless greed and selfishness that has been prevalent in most of the 7 billion humans occupying space here, I would not resist it. 

There once was a time when winter urged us to slow down. We could pause for a time during a winter storm and simply enjoy the silence and the serenity. Before cars and a plethora of machines were invented, there was only the crackling of the fire in the hearth and the quiet sounds of breathing as people contentedly sipped their tea.

The problem with capitalism is that too many people are chained to the belief that money buys happiness. My 22 year old granddaughter thinks she wants to go to Iceland; but immediately squelches her dream with doubt and hopelessness that it can ever come true. She works at a minimum wage job where she can see no way out of her present situation. When I was her age, I was weighed down by a similar lack of optimism and persistent discouragement about the bad hand life had dealt me.  

It is true that many of the things we would like to have in life require money. Some people succeed at manipulating life in such a way, as to be able to climb from poverty into wealth; but often they lose it all within a short time. They erroneously believe that they can continue to acquire more and more; and that the acquisition of the next thing will bring them the happiness they seek. They live under the illusion that their power lies in the accumulation of money and material things. This is their reality. Money, in and of itself, has no power. It is nothing more than a medium of exchange. It is neither good, nor evil. 

Those of us who have learned that dreams do not in fact, require money, but a heartfelt belief in the dream itself, have come to realize our own power. We have learned that “dreams really do come true” – when we believe with all our heart and soul. This of course, is only half of the story because when our dreams finally do come true, they can slip away in an instant. Nothing lasts forever. All things, whether they bring us great joy, or great pain, eventually pass away. This is when we must go deeper into our understanding. This is when we come to see that our individual lives mean nothing. Our wants and desires, our complaints and criticisms are merely the ego clamoring for our attention. When we realize, finally, that our life is not about what we can get from life; it is about what we can give. When we learn that our life is truly about giving and being of service to others, we find that our needs are always met. We discover that the elusive happiness that we had spent a lifetime chasing, was inside of us all along; and the only thing we have accumulated is wisdom.

I think the only thing that might surpass a mother’s joy at the birth of her child, is the return of her son (or daughter, in my case) from active military duty overseas. My daughter flew in yesterday from her year long deployment and I could not be more relieved. While her body remains unscathed, I cannot know what emotional wounds she may bring with her. The military wreaks havoc on souls, that is beyond the scope of ordinary citizens. Even in times of peace, soldiers are permanently imprinted with a kind of hypersensitivity, adrenalin lying in wait, always ready for the unexpected. 

When I think of the millions of mothers through the centuries, who have lost sons in the name of patriotism, I cannot help but sense the unendurable anguish they have felt. A young man or woman, dying or permanently disabled in the prime of his or her life, because of war, is beyond my comprehension. I do not believe that in the entirety of human history, there has ever been a time where war was not going on somewhere in the world. Surely this is not our human means of “survival of the fittest”, for it has barely impacted our ever burgeoning population.

I see only the absurdity of war – the senseless, pointless, wasteful, bloody ugliness of it. War is entered into based on the decisions of only one or a handful of men. It is the blind leading the blind – into death. There is a minority, a group of retaliatory people here in our own country, who are trying to create chaos and confusion. They are wedging a blade of hatred into the midst of our neighbors, driving us further apart. They are sitting bombs ready to be detonated.

 
At this time in history, it is crucial that rivalries and bigotry and intolerance be put down. It is vital that we come together and establish lasting peace among ourselves. We must do this not only for the sake of human life, and not only for our own country. We must do this for all of life. We must do this for our planet. We must become the peacemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers.

It could be years before we realize the many reverberations caused by this pandemic. It has affected so many parts of our lives beyond the loss of loved ones, the loss of jobs, and the loss of financial security for so many. Children are suffering from anxiety. Adults are succumbing to depression. Gun sales have increased – and so has murder. Police departments are operating at minimal capacity because some of the officers have been taken by COVID. Other departments have had to scale back due to financial shortage. There is an increase in deadly crimes, with fewer police officers to provide protection. 

Police officers, originally, were trained to serve and to protect. Somewhere along the way they were transformed into homeland soldiers. People, especially those in colored communities, learned to fear the police, rather than to depend on them to keep them safe. A 911 call for some can turn an about face, landing them as perpetrator, rather than victim. 

These times call for more compassion. These times require patience, understanding, and civility. We need least of all, more violence. This need to blame, condemn, and accuse others of perceived wrongs, serves no one. It does not matter what happened to us, however unfair, unjust, or underserved we deem it to be. What matters now is what we choose to do going forward. That which we put our attention on has a tendency to multiply. Like the virus, it becomes nearly unstoppable. These times require looking away from that which we do not wish to replicate. These times require forgiveness, acceptance, and kindness. Violence is not the answer to the dilemmas we face. Could we all just make a commitment to practice non-violence in 2021? Imagine where this might lead us, as a country and as one world.

Shopping malls have undergone a steady decline in recent years, with the ever growing popularity of internet shopping. They have vacillated from being outdoor malls, to indoor malls, and back again to outdoor malls. Each time a mall underwent these changes, it was at considerable cost. The old buildings were often completely demolished and new structures built to accommodate the new vision of happy shoppers. 

I found Christmas shopping to be a dreary undertaking. As malls grew larger, it was a considerable trek to trudge from one end of the mall to the opposite end. Already laden with a heavy winter coat and a purse that continually fell off my shoulder, I was further inconvenienced with  each gift I purchased and then had to carry through the store – with three children in tow who wanted me to carry their coats as well. My legs would begin to ache as I perused store after store in search of the perfect gift for those “hard to find gifts for” people on my list. By this time, the children were generally cranky, too. The stress of holiday shopping, pretending that I actually enjoyed all of the extravagant spending, chipped away at the real meaning of why I put myself through the ordeal year after year. Added to the shopping frenzy, was the scurry to clean and make the home look festive, buy or cut  and decorate a tree, wrap the far too many gifts, bake cookies, plan meals, attend company parties – and make that final trip to the liquor store because by Christmas night I really needed that drink.

As my daughters grew and began families of their own, I retired from the yearly madness, adopting instead, the quiet, contemplative celebration of the Winter’s Solstice. I do not miss the shopping malls, nor the chaotic Christmas bustling about. I am grateful that this is no longer important to me. This year, amidst a global pandemic and strained finances, I believe that more and more people will begin to question why they go to such extremes for a single day that has been blown all out of proportion. What the world truly needs, is recognition that each day has worth in its own right, of quiet celebration. I believe that our modern obsession with holidays is an unsatisfied hunger for all that we have given up in the name of capitalism. We have paid too high a price for our material luxuries and in the transaction, we have lost our peace of mind.