The doomsday clock clicks down, 3
days and counting. On Friday, March 1st the U.S. government will
begin to cut federal spending, bluntly slicing programs affecting nearly every
citizen in some way or another. The coming sequestration fills me with anxiety
and angst from so many perspectives, and so provides fertile ground for
practicing the dance of grasp and release, of desire and being.
I
work seasonally with the National Park Service, as do nearly 39% of its’
employees. The running joke we share when starting a day of work, invariably
starring across some beautiful landscape, is “just another day at the office”.
It hints at the reality of my work. I work in America’s playgrounds.
Collectively these national treasures stand to loose $183 million in federal
spending if our congress continues its hands off approach to doing their job.
It’s been three years since they last passed a budget. But lest I digress and
follow that tug…
Our
Parks are not merely playgrounds. They act as a respite and sanctuary for a
city weary and nature-deficient America.
When the hordes descend on Memorial Day, some in the park service adopt
an air of cynicism, but most of us see the deeper message. People yearn for a
re-connect, to feel bare earth, to soak in cold streams, and for just a minute
to close their eyes, move beyond themselves and experience truly awe inspiring
creation. I love being a caretaker for the places that give us back our human
perspective. Come Friday, thousands of jobs like mine will disappear.
That
is the grasp, and now the release.
Along with the nonsensical cuts to programs that feed our
kids, house the needy, fund science and spur innovation, the vast majority of
the federal spending cuts will be born by the Department of Defense. As a
nation we are addicted to violence and these cuts were purposefully structured
to scare a congress to compromise, to talk… and actually listen to each other.
No congressman (or woman) wants to loose Defense dollars for their district.
It’s un-American. And here I see a silver lining in the coming torrent. Could
this be start, just a small unavoidable start to really beginning a
conversation about America’s addiction to violence and war? Could these budget
cuts mean that we actually have to rethink the ease with which we start a war,
drop a bomb and hold ever so tightly to our guns, to the idea of control? Could
this mean one less morally justifiable drone strike on collateral kids. If so,
I’m in.
It seems a rather strange choice though.
Which
leaves me with desire and being. I
wish for a world where these artificial choices don’t leave me struggling with
a cognitive dissonance, struggling with a sane place to rest my mind and sit. I
desire a world where we replace the uniform of aggression with one of
stewardship. I desire a country that treasures its’ common spaces and natural
wonders, within everyone of us, as well as those on the outside. The ones we
call national parks and natural treasures.
So
Friday will come and this is where I have found myself to BE. I hope over the next year everyone gets out to enjoy our parks,
to our forests, mountains, deserts and beaches. Go recharge and explore and
take a minute to breathe, IT in. I really hope to see you there, SERIOUSLY! But
if perchance I don’t, I hope, bow and sit for the silver lining.
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