“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.”
Rachel Carson
As someone who is always seeking potential, I’m drawn to focus on nature now. It offers the most positive tangible outcome.
The depths of darkness within humanity have never been so much on show. The inequalities I’ve always known have their own show.
Our clapping and cheering for the front line feel akin to throwing confetti on a battlefield.
I can’t read the writers who normally speak my language. Appeal to my soul. Who see the depths of both light and dark. It’s too easy now to focus on the dark. I alternate between reading the mindless imaging of crime writers – to re-reading those books which gave me such hope in the past.
So in all this unrest, I’m watching the birds. Marvelling at the clearness of the ocean. And reading the dreams set down by those who wanted us to stop.
We may not have stopped by choice. But nature is not fussy. It’ll take whatever we give.
All I’ve listened to this week is the rather unsustainable argument that school needs to be opened again for children’s mental health. I’ve never heard such utter rubbish. There are many I know who’ve stepped off the grid happily. By choice. They are only missing their tennis lessons now. Most other external activities arrive online.
We only want to go back to school to fill the void. Or more worryingly to reduce the child abuse. Distance offers hope. And yet I know how many new skills are possible from this time. What potential is held for a new generation.
Education only served to kill the environmentalist in me. It’s taken a pandemic for me to go back. Embrace the reasons I was allured to learning.
So I’m drawn once more to read the words of those who’ve created change. Who’ve stayed optimistic in the face of such adversity.
What does it take for possibility? The ability to stay and treasure the small moments. To really look around.
“It is not half so important to know as to feel.”
Rachel Carson
Will families ever have so much time together again? How hard is it for them to all stop and feel. To allow the emotions to roll through. To not punch out.
Naoisé May 1st 2020