As I sit down to write this, my mind is a jumble of thoughts. We've gotten some bad environmental news on the local front, and are still processing it. As you may recall, we've stepped up and been fighting an environmental injustice very close to home. I remained exceptionally skeptical through the process that there would be any justice, however the other happy vegan really had some hope that there would be remediation required. The "official" determination has come down from the top, and suffice to say "they're" taking the road often taken, that of no responsibility. So, here we have a situation where there are obvious environmental crimes, yet as we worked out way up the food chain, somewhere along the line each agency would either have a "not my problem," response or "there's something fishy here, but nothing can be done about it because..." response.
Ah, there's so much I could say.
The other happy vegan was essentially talked off the ledge by me this morning when word came down. As he grabbed for the phone to begin the tirade of phone calls, I worked to change his mind. Don't want to fly off the handle, I said; there's still too much at stake, and its not over.
He wants to give up. He told me so. The funny thing is, all through this process I've been angry, but never really allowed myself to believe things would change. When it comes to government at any level, I believe I'm a realist. The wheels turn slowly, and so often as we've seen over and over, people get entrenched and protected, and well, it can take decades for things to change... to get the dead weight out. And for justice to prevail. So, while he wants to give up, I'm now acknowledging I'm just getting started. I feel there's enough blatant evidence being ignored by a long food chain that when the poo eventually will hit the fan, it will hit it bigger and better. So, no, I'm not ready to give up, and as I said, I'm really now just getting started.
I had a prior career in a profession where wheels turned slowly, and time after time I saw that things weren't really about justice. Instead, it was about settlements, about wearing the other side down. Getting people to "cave" so to speak, or maybe more eloquently I would say getting people to see that even when all the evidence is in their favor, and the other side has more staying power... more money... more anything, that "they" will keep chipping away at the little guy, so better to just take what they gave, or walk away. Save yourself the aggravation was the drum that "other side" banged over and over. So it seems I've got a couple decades under my belt dealing with motivations like that. This maybe makes me better prepared to be the proverbial fly in the ointment? That, and a hefty does of "question everything, believe nothing" that my dad instilled in me also might help me dig my boot heels in.
On top of all this, I'm mourning the loss of Nancy Forrester's Secret Garden in Key West. It is now officially closed to the public. Decades of work and good intentions by an environmental warrior have now ended, and the parcel lies in the hands of someone else. Too many of our guests to count visited the garden during our stint here so far at Deer Run.
I won't single any one person out as someone I don't trust, because there's a very short list of people that garden could have been turned over to that I would have trusted. Unfortunately, I have very little expectations for the good future of the space. I have nothing but respect and admiration for Nancy Forrester. She soldiered on against incredible odds for decades, probably feeling like she was rolling a boulder up a hill 24 hours a day, and often feeling alone in the fight to protect that beautiful patch of open space in Key West. Nancy is a hero for what she was able to accomplish, and accomplish for so long. Now I, along with the rest of the public, are no longer allowed in the garden to renew and refresh our souls in that space. Someone will come along, probably plow down some trees, and put up a "proper" home, without regard to conservation issues including responsible design for the space. Things like considering which way the sun shines to maximize warming and cooling abilities, alternative power, or simple preservation of trees. Instead of the space continuing on as a refuge for animals, trees, plants and people, its being marketed as "build your own private home in Eden" or something nauseating like that.
Its been another rough few days for Mother Earth. Some may want to give up, but we just can't. This is just like the fight for human rights, equality, animal rights, and any victim of injustice. Too much at stake to walk away. Besides, I know the other happy vegan's real truth. He may say he wants to give up, but when push comes to shove, he doesn't have that in him. That's another reason why we're together ... he's the dreamer to my realist. He will dream of the day when justice will prevail, and that dream will keep him going in dramas of right vs. might. I need to be around dreamers, because the reality is enough to wear the best souls down, and so with dreamers, hope springs eternal.
Hug a tree. Hug a dreamer. Its all the same. And, all along the way, pick up some trash on the road, help an animal in need, and do something right not for reward, but rather because it IS the right thing to do.
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