The Ecology of Wonder #2

The Ecology of Wonder #2

The wind tugs at branches of oak and eucalyptus.  It blows warm from the north and smells of red soil in the mountains.  I split a eucalyptus leaf to take in the spicy scent.  The leaf begs of me, where have you been?  Would eucalyptus understand quarantine?  My legs certainly understand quarantine as they burn up the twists of the path after months of no trails.  I find my favorite grove of old oak grandmothers and sit to think.

Good always comes with challenge.  It is apparent in life that one cannot exist without the other.

Mother Earth teaches us this.  She gives us life and back to her we return.  My body, my mind, my heart – all bursting with beauty and riddled with challenge and pain.

I laugh in love with the ocean daily.  The ocean brings me unfathomable joy.  And yet she tumbles me in her waves.  And she can kill me.

A mother rocks her child and kisses her to sleep.  How perfect and beautiful it is.  And someday that child will break her mother’s heart on her quest for independence.

Good always comes with challenge.  It is apparent in life that one cannot exist without the other.  The amount one can embrace the challenge along with the beauty is equal to the amount one will enjoy, and be at peace with, life.

The wind through the trees now carries a chill and shadows between leaves have darkened.  It is time to come off the mountain of solitude into a collective rightfully reeling with anger and grief after the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless other Black lives.

If good is always accompanied with challenge, then the reverse rings true as well.

Challenge fortifies us.  Challenge evolves us.  Good will rise from challenge.

The Ecology of Wonder

ecology –

the branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings

wonder –

a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable

In this series of short writings I explore connecting curiosity, beauty, and personal freedom to a just and thriving planet.