On my left, the North side of I 80, a vast "wasteland" rolls along. So far I haven't seen any farmers here scratching out a living--only a lone Highway Patrolman pulling some unfortunate victim. Argh!! can you EVER escape the long arm of the law!!! I mean this is NOWHERE!!! I've decided that I am more of a Libertarian than anything else. Stick to principles 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness", combined with, "That government governs best, which governs least." Who said that?
------------------
Okay, so we refilled our hungry gas tank (12-13 mpg) in Elko, a town with a TJ Max, Wal Mart, and a few other box stores, along with a McDs.. We let the kids including, only-diapered Ben, play on the indoor playground, while we bought, what else, coffee and a few ice cream cones!
Elko, Nevada is a blistering place that is supported by gold mining, in part. I spoke with a retired mine worker. He hailed from Wyoming 22 years ago, but stayed on here for the work: he drove dump trucks. He spoke with deep fondness for the state of his birth and suggested we hit Thermopolous for its hot baths. It is unfortunate that work drives so much of our lives. I need to think about this.
I read once that subsistence hunters and gatherers have substantially more free time than we cultivated folk. I do wonder.......what is this life for??? I know, of course: to know God, to love God, to serve God, and to be happy with him here and in heaven for eternity. But, Is this modern world like the plug in Lassen volcano? Could our spirits soar in magnificent eruptions of love, if we divested ourselves of the "necessities" of life? Racing from activity to activity seems like it's important in order to raise well-rounded children, who glorify God with their lives, by maximizing their talents and gifts. However, this trip reminds me of the vastness of God and His eternity, and the smallness of myself and my little life and worries.
Perspective, is a reality that must light my path. So while I have experienced some small troubles, mountains explode and new ones take their place, while their rubble tumbles and flows to the sea....People play along the banks of rivers paved with smooth "egg rocks" millions of years old. Little boys find the perfect pebble to skip across the river, while critters peer,unseen, unable to wonder what we're doing: not actively hunting, or hiding. Mother, like mothers and mothers for eons, finds a stone to place in her fire, a radiator for cooking.
The challenge, the tension: living in the place God plants you. Escaping reality leads to delusion and creates a different set of troubles. For instance, much of the southwest is irrigated. California in reality, as a dessert, in much of its "bread basket", yet it and Arizona, produce a multitude of agricultural products: flowers, fruit, vegetables, livestock.
Water!!!! From whence does it flow? Winners and losers abound. I see the pros and cons of this issue, which is central to the feeding of many around the world, the livelihood of farmers, the ecosystems dependent on the water. The fights over water, all streamed from one place to hundreds of miles away, involves the development of cities too. People want water for LA or Phoenix, or Sacramento. They DEMAND it. It's THEIRS!!!
Sojourn in our Land for a time and realize NONE of it is yours. It is all a gift! Cities in the desert, are an illusion!!
I look at my children, knowing they'll never reject society, nor do I desire it. However, I hope that after living on a long road, finally returning them to the Carolinas, instructs them in authentic diversity. The road, and the people along it inculcate one in the brotherhood of man!
As the young Navajo transplanted from New Mexico 12 years ago, an interloper in Shoshone Land, told me, "I consider, we are all brothers, children of the same Father." He then said actually, two fathers, our biological one and God. Sadly he explained that racisim against Indians is growing. We in the south, which is not Indian country have no experience of this. he told me that people complaind about the indians and their land, and he says, "Go back, We didn't ask you to come here 500 years ago."
That said, he did not hold animosity toward the present for the crimes of the past. I told him that I felt a deep sadness and wished I could do something....Then he told me the Shoshone were "beggers", always asking for government hand outs. He said, "We pay taxes like regular people." Interesting.
I can say that the reservations in the southwest, both New Mexico and Arizona, mainly Navajo, were pathetic! Something is not right in "Indian policy" still.
I believe that this brotherhood of man, our stewardship and love of the gift of the natural world, this unity of people with nature, can be lived anyplace, IF it is learned by modern man, remembered, and rejuvenated periodically. (Perhaps this is why some hunt and fish.) A journey has a destination, even if its home, for that is the place we're meant to be. And in the end, He has prepared the perfect mansion, really!
-----------------------------
Just outside Elko. A rainstorm obscures the distant mountains to the north.
To the south, A magnificent mountain looms over a valley, a farm, and a train going, going.....
PS We're on US 93, a two-lane road now, heading north towards Idaho. It still looks a lot like NM, without the mesas. Gotten rocky, rocky over the mountains. Like they've crumbled in place! Boulders that have rolled down from some long forgotten Behemoth. Perhaps the rubble below the mesa is it's life blood shattered in a heap below it....What does this mean?
PPS, why do I have 4G in the middle of "Jackpot", NV at 5300 altitude?
Just passed a junk pile in the desert. Is it my back yard??
No comments:
Post a Comment