“Somehow, I managed to find my way into the woods. The trail was thick with dry oak leaves. I dragged my feet, kicked, and I remembered. I remembered the swish, swish, swish of rigid leaves as they came together, flew high, and fell back to the ground in unison. I embraced the scent that rose with the leaves, hung in the air and surrounded me as I walked through it.
Home is a safe place to think. I wandered and thought about how dead everything looked. I know there is a lot of life hidden in the dormant forest, but you have to look for it. It just looks dead.
A little way up the trail, there is a place fed by a warm spring. I like to visit the spring this time of year because it reminds me that everything is not dead. In that space, you don’t have to search for life.
For some reason, the contrast between these two places reminded me of something I’ve been whispering, mostly to myself, for many years:
“The greatest rebellion is to find happiness and security in ourselves and our communities despite the pressure to do otherwise.”
The evergreen space is fed differently—literally. Nature gives us the dormant forest, yes, but she also provides the evergreen grove. What if we accept both and simply choose where we spend our time?
As above, so below.
What if we look at our world, accept reality, and choose where we focus our energy without judging others? We don’t have to agree with everything someone else believes to love them. That would be boring, actually. Being rigid and unaccepting of others is costly. Community is essential to humans. We need each other. Together we are strong and safe. In a country divided, I choose to not.