The Healing Wilderness

 9 Days 18 hours, and 57 minutes until we leave for our beloved Glacier. If it is possible, we're probably even more excited than ever before. For us Glacier is a place of peace, vitality, spirituality, health and healing. While escape isn't always the best way to deal with life issues, escape is sometimes necessary to find answers, grow strong, shut out the noise and chatter so that you can hear yourself think, and see clearly. Escaping into the wilderness enables one to do these things.


However, when I told a friend that I was working on this blog and that I talk about escaping into the wilderness, she challenged the idea that going into the wilderness is escape. Perhaps, she suggested, it is going home. That struck a chord - a resonant chord that rang so true that it totally reshaped my way of thinking. The physical oneness of quantum physics along with the spiritual oneness of Buddhism and the pantheistic reverence for all nature and life makes returning to the wildness a returning to our most basic nature wherein we find renewed life and can commune with all life to find our way back to where we should be.

Trapped inside the limits of sprawling humanity people try desperately to understand the meaning of life. Confined to buildings where the air and the light are artificial and the closest thing they have to any other form of life is a plant struggling to survive while they flounder for answers to questions they don't really know.  In hallowed halls of academia and religion, pious, well-meaning albeit ignorant men and women attempt to justify who they think we are when they truthfully haven't a clue. A scientist does a physics experiment to observe and demonstrate universal oneness totally oblivious to the answers outside.  Men and women of great power sit in glass and steel cages hundreds of feet above the earth and plot ways of turning what they do not understand, what they do not realize is the source of their life, into profits and thoughtlessly sign our doom.  While in the wilderness we can stand in awe, our spirits souring, melding into the oneness - a union -  that needs no justification or proof.  The answer to all question lie here.

"Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher."
- William Wordsworth

Nature is the consummate teacher.  From it we learn that everything has a purpose whether or not we like the thing or like the purpose. Knowing this we become more open and accepting, more compassionate and kind.  Knowing this we look for our purpose in the scheme of nature because we too are a part of nature. We learn that. We discover and acknowledge that we are not above nature or in charge of nature or in control. We realize that there are times that we are not at the top of the food chain. Nature teaches us about time and its relationship to the cycle of life of all things. And of course you can't learn about the cycle of life without learning survival, resilience and natural consequences. Our society get so full of itself and its "rights" that it forgets that there are natural consequences to every action. Nature teaches us perspective.  We get out in the wilderness or similar places and we begin to realize that we're not quite as big and important as we think.  That teaches us humility.  Then we learn gratitude - gratitude for the gift of life and the amazing world we have around us.

Avalanche Creek 

Consider the rushing stream. It is beautiful yet its power is beyond comprehension and its voice is deafening. When it appears its most terrifying and destructive is when it is bringing new life.  The picture to the left is of Avalanche Creek in May 2014 as the snow cap 3,000 feet above is beginning to melt. This is life for everything and everyone below. This year (2015) there was very little snow. We know that the lack of snow will have a very negative impact upon plants and animals.  When you look at this creek you are looking at the life blood of planet earth.  The rushing stream is a part of the cycle of life, a part of the oneness which is universal. When I watch the life-blood of the world rushing by my heart pounds while I find myself standing quietly in reverent joy and thanksgiving.

When I stand high upon a mountain and look out over the grandeur of nature I don't feel small or insignificant. Of course, nature teaches us perspective and I'm very small by comparison, but I learn our oneness - both spiritual and as demonstrated by quantum physics. The mountains make me feel strong and capable. They teach me to survive. They teach me to really live.  The mountains shelter me. They do not shun me for my size or insignificance but give me strong foundation and room to grow and blossom.  The wilderness does not coddle me, nor does it reject me.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” 

― Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Yes, that's it. The wilderness makes me know that I am alive.  So many times Pamela, suffering with severe arthritis in her knees, wanted to hike in the high mountains. She would say "let's just go a few miles" and struggle to overcome the pain.  Once there she would not turn back, but, reveling in the beauty and life around her would press onward until we would often find ourselves eight, ten or more miles into the wilderness. 

In our three months in the wilderness we hike and bike many hundreds of miles. We hiked the historic trail that the Ute people used to cross the Rocky Mountains and went wadding in a lake that has icebergs in it year around. We kayaked 15 miles into a lake so remote and so rugged that it took us an hour to go the last six miles in a powerful 4x4 truck.  We had to share a trail no more than two feet wide with a Mountain Goat hundreds of feet up the side of an ice field, and a narrow road with a Black Bear. In doing all these things, nature taught us self-reliance, respect for all life, survival, persistence, and decision-making. But what was far greater, we knew that we were alive. We knew that we were a part of this marvelous nature.

"Whenever the pressure of our complex city life thins my blood and numbs my brain, I seek relief in the trail; and when I hear the coyote wailing to the yellow dawn, my cares fall from me - I am happy."
- Hamlin Garland

It is not easy to put into words or explain peace, wholeness and spirituality, and I am sure you can sense my struggle.  It is more so to explain the healing of the wilderness.  There is a physical healing about being out in the wilderness. Despite the necessity of being constantly vigilant and aware of what is going on around you - the weather, the terrain, animals, plants - there is a healing peace and tranquility. Perhaps it is because such vigilance and awareness is really so natural.

“When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.” 

― Wendell Berry, Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community: Eight Essays

There are many scientist who theorize that the homo sapien has lost many natural skills because we stopped using them - everything from sense of direction to sense of weather. I strongly subscribe to this theory. Often when you are in the wilderness your senses literally tingle.

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

No where was I more aware of that tingle than when, in July 2013, I ran across the Badlands National Park.  It was one of the most exciting, exhilarating, frightening things I've ever done and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.  I made the run in July, despite the heat, because I needed as much daylight as possible for the 40+ mile run. I figured that it would take me 10-12 hours. You don't want to be caught in the badlands after dark if you can help it.  As usual I carried my survival pack - a 25 pound backpack with survival gear and lots of water. When I left the trail-head I was suddenly confronted with the realization that there wasn't a "trail" in the common sense of the word. Wind and sand would quickly cover any footprints. I had to rely on my compass and topographic map and the occasional red pole driven into the sand.  I was constantly checking my bearing, watching the weather and looking out for animals. One would think I would have been a nervous wreck when I finished, but it was quite to the contrary.  I could see the parking lot at the trail-head from almost a quarter mile away. My pace quickened and I almost danced the last hundred yards or so. It wasn't because I was finished. Actually I felt a bit sad that it was over. But my joy was how alive and whole I felt.  I was healed physically because my body was stronger than it ever had been, and I could feel it. I was healed psychologically because I had faced fear and danger and prevailed.  I was healed spiritually because I had allowed myself to become a part of the nature around me and I found my place and knew my oneness.

Yes, the wilderness, and for us especially our beloved Glacier, is a place of peace, vitality, spirituality, and healing.  Sadly many people see anything outside of the city or their building as just something with the potential to make money.  Humans have no idea what they're missing by avoiding the wilderness, parks and other places where nature is allowed to be nature. They have no idea what they're doing to themselves and their progeny by thoughtless abuse.  Wendell Berry, the Henry David Thoreau of our time, said it best.  “The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.”    I will not belabor my fears and concern. This blog is not the place to again make the case for the care and conservation of our world.  But I must admit to sharing the attitude of E.B. White; novelist, contributor to the New Yorker and author of Charlotte's Web; who said "I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority."  

But don't take my word for it.  Don't live your lives vicariously through people like me.  We are so blessed with our National Park system. Our National Parks all have ways that even the worst handicapped person can see and experience and enjoy the outdoors and wilderness. In research the most important thing is not the outcome of the experiment but whether it can be replicated.  I have put before you the outcome of my experience. Now go and replicate it in your own life!

We're going home. See you in August. I will leave you with the blessing credited to Edward Abbey,

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.

View of Stanton Mountain from our campsite at Sprague Creek, Glacier National Park, Montana. 

The Day After . . .

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE DAY

AFTER EARTH DAY? 

To designate a day of events, learning, contemplation, and planning is an excellent idea. To have a day where we celebrate our marvelous planet, celebrate the success stories of the past year and analyze our failures, and, in one voice dedicate ourselves to another year of advocacy is outstanding. It is wonderful that so many people are out planting trees as a symbol and expression of their love of our precious home Earth. The Earth Day Network seems to be about as close to an official organization as there is. It has 22,000 partner organizations in 192 countries and has designated Earth Day 2015 as “It's Our turn to lead.” On their webpage they write, 2015 - Earth Day’s 45th anniversary - could be the most exciting year in environmental history. The year in which economic growth and sustainability join hands. The year in which world leaders finally pass a binding climate change treaty. The year in which citizens and organizations divest from fossil fuels and put their money into renewable energy solutions. These are tough issues but we know what’s at stake is the future of our planet and the survival of life on earth. On Earth Day we need you to take a stand so that together, we can show the world a new direction. It’s our turn to lead. So our world leaders can follow by example. (Please re-read the last three sentences!)  

Earth Day Network reports 1,123,961,786 “acts of green” with a target of 2 billion. This is exciting and heady stuff! Unfortunately reality rears its ugly head forcing us to ask the question - when the trees are planted, the programs are over and your adrenaline level has returned to normal, will you still be ready to take action. Tomorrow we will still be confronted by disintegration of natural habitats and the remaining forest corridors due to rapid development and human pressure, pollution due to the reckless dumping and disposal of waste and the destruction of the ecosystem and the threat to aquatic and avian species, destruction of natural habitats because of unlawful mining, logging of timber, grazing, man-made forest fires, large-scale commercial exploitation of minor forest produce, use of chemical pesticides, and fishing practices, and seemingly countless other critical issues. If you are already an earth-lover, I hope today is a celebration that strengthens your resolve to continue through the coming year. If you are just coming on board, I hope today will provide you with the strength and courage to continue. In any case, let us remember that there are 364 other days. Let's make today our Earth Day Celebration and EVERY DAY BE EARTH DAY!

Apologetic of an Unabashed Tree-hugger

The term apologetic has nothing to do with saying "I'm sorry". Quite the contrary. It comes from the Greek ἀπολογία (apologia) which means "speaking in defense." While there are many literary/secular examples of apologetic it is probably the religious scholar who most often uses the term. Nevertheless it was the best term I could find for the intentions of this blog, and I sincerely believe that most conservation/environmental writers were/are at some time apologists - from Henry David Thoreau, to Edward Abbey, John F. Kennedy, Jr., and E.O. Wilson, who are just a few of a great many.

I can only be called an environmentalist, a conservationist, a nature lover, a tree-hugger. Until you have walked in our shoes - the famous Native America "walk in their moccasins" - you have no idea of the extent of prejudice and abuse we suffer. We are frequently treated like a clueless flower-child. Many people show signs of anger toward environmentalists and others snicker at nature lovers or conservationists. "Tree-hugger" was a derogatory term which, like Yankee, we've turned into a proud symbol. We are always treated like the abnormal. But what is so abnormal about loving your home, wanting clean air and water, and a good future for your progeny?


The demises of our wilderness and oceans

I love the wilderness. Looking back at my childhood, the places my parents took me to visit that I liked the best were forests, lakes, parks and natural wonders.  As an Explorer Scout I ran with a group who liked nothing more than heading out for a three or four day camping trip with only the basic survival essentials or traveling a good portion of French Creek (a contributory of the Allegheny River) in canoes. So it is no wonder that I became a trail runner and made it my goal to run through parks, mountains and wilderness areas across the United States, culminating in becoming a National Park Service volunteer at Glacier National Park, Montana. Being an NPS volunteer has been one of the greatest adventures and experiences of my life.

About 12 years ago I had my first scuba diving experience in Hawaii. I didn't tell any one but I was certain that I was going to be the one who would panic. But I didn't panic. It was marvelous. A little over two years ago I got my scuba certification and now have a master diver certification.  It is the most awesome experience of freedom. It is almost surreal.  Watching aquatic animal life and exploring natural formations gives you a tremendous appreciation of our beautiful blue planet.  Then you run into the trash.  Divers have a saying "Take only pictures. Leave only bubble."  Unfortunately there are people who don't believe this.

The wilderness and the oceans are beautiful, magnificent, dangerous, challenging, beckoning, strengthening, and a source of peace and solace.  But above all they are places that provide and protect those things which sustain life on this planet.  Wilderness and the ocean is a source of clean water and produces almost all of our oxygen.

Most of the oxygen on the planet is actually locked into minerals like quartz and calcite.(1) We can't do anything about that, but 50% of the breathable oxygen on the planet is produced by photosynthesis by microorganisms in the ocean.  20% of our air comes from the Amazon Rain Forest alone which leaves only 30% produced by trees and plants elsewhere on the globe.  If we are destroying much of our oceans through pollution and the destruction of reefs, what do you think we are doing to the 50% of oxygen produced there?  Would you not agree that to blatantly abuse our planet's oceans is to commit suicide?

Hypercapnea  (3)

Why would destroying our oceans be suicidal?  Well, we know that 50% of our oxygen comes from photosynthesis in the ocean.  If we destroy that, wouldn't the other sources pick up the slack?  I don't think you could make that argument for two reasons: (1) you can't expect an ecosystem to produce more oxygen than it is already producing, and (2) we're likewise destroying the other oxygen producing areas with equal or greater rapidity.  At one point the rainforest, which you will remember provides 20% of our oxygen, covered 14% of the Earth's surface. It now covers only 6%.  We have about 40 years left. (2)  I don't think anyone can make a viable argument that earth can survive on 30% of its oxygen. Besides, we are destroying forests and other high oxygen producing areas at a dramatic rate. For example, Russia is the home of the world's largest area of tree cover.  It is losing 16,600 square miles of trees every year. That's an area larger than New Hampshire and Vermont combined. (4)   So this is very bad. If we destroy our oceans and the rainforest, in about 40 years we'll be dependent upon the remaining 30% which is being destroyed at the rate of 16,600 square miles each year. There sure isn't going to be much oxygen left.  Boreal forests in Russia and Canada are also major carbon sinks which leaves us with a double whammy.  As oxygen goes down, carbon dioxide will be going up. The human body does not do well in a high CO2 atmosphere as you can see in the chart entitled Hypercapnea.

Bottom line . . . to destroy our wilderness and our oceans is to destroy our life.  If you want to claim that these figures are either made up or exaggerated, there are actual photographs from space where you can see the change.

Let's also consider a fact that I pointed out in a FaceBook post on Old Conservationist viz. that the Amazon rainforest alone is responsible for most of our medications. 1300 of 2000 current cancer drugs are dependent upon the rainforest.  Also, the coral reefs of our oceans alone infuse $375 billion into the world economy each year and they provide food and resources for 500 million people in 94 countries.(5)    Is that not also worthy of consideration?


Pure water.    Water is a most precious commodity. Sadly most Americans have no idea how precious water is and consume 3.9 trillion gallons a month when 1.1 billion people don't even have access to potable water.(6)  I have lived where clean water was a luxury not to be taken for granted. When we bathed in a tub it contained only 2-3 inches of water. If we showered, we would quickly wet ourselves, turn off the water, lather and wash, then quickly rinse. That obviously wasn't in the United States where the long luxurious hot shower is given little thought and treated like a birthright. I still spend very little time in a shower. Every time I bathe I think of those days and the people for whom clean water is such a luxury.






The issue, however, is much greater than abuse and misuse.  Pollution is an extremely serious problem. While we generally think of pollution as a third-world country problem, there is lots of pollution right here in North America.  "Water is typically referred to as polluted when it is impaired by anthropogenic contaminants and either does not support a human use, such as drinking water, or undergoes a marked shift in its ability to support its constituent biotic communities, such as fish."(7)  A 2007 EPA report to Congress (2002 data) reported that 45% of stream miles that were tested, 47% of lakes and 32% of bays and estuaries that were tested were found to be polluted. (8)   

We can also make the connection between pure water and wilderness areas. Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana (about 20 miles from Idaho and sharing part of the park with Canada) probably has the highest concentration of scientist studying water at any one time of any place in North America.  You see, Glacier contains the Triple Divide Peak.  Waters here flow north into the Hudson bay and effect the entire eastern side of North America. They also flow westward effecting the west coast of North America and south via the Flathead and Missouri Rivers into the Mississippi, effecting the central part of the United States. Poison or pollute this Triple Divide Peak and you adversely impact almost every drop of water in North America.  And it is being polluted. While the National Park Service and the State of Montana do an admirable job keeping contamination out of this wilderness area, they can not stop planes from flying overhead. Airplanes are dropping measurable amounts of pollutants. They can not stop snow and rain which carries pollutants from cities and civilization to the west.  

Anti-road paving at Polebridge parade drew great applause.

There are efforts to conduct coal mining in the Canadian North Fork which would send polluted water along the western side of the park, and efforts to pave the US North Fork road which would mean more traffic along the waterways along with threatening commercial development.(9)  The focal point of the North Fork is a place called Polebridge - population 15.  Polebridge is literally off the grid.  It has no electricity, telephone, cable, gas, water or other public utilities.  It is 20 miles from the nearest paved road, and the people who live in the North Fork area want to keep it that way. The mountains and wilderness are their livelihood. They don't want to see them destroyed.  I was privileged to be a judge at the Polebridge 4th. of July Parade in 2014. Here's a picture from the judge's stand (a piece of plywood on a tractor-forklift) of the entry against paving the North Fork Road. They received hearty cheers.

The destruction of plant and animal species.   I would never chastise a hunter because, in our western society, we have been taught by religion that other animals are ours to do with as we wish.  But the average hunter really isn't the focus of this argument and are generally not the culprits in the demise of animal species.  In fact, many individual hunters are strong conservationists and abhor western society's attitude toward the destruction of animal species.  Commercial "hunting" - mass slaughter - is a different thing. Bludgeoning baby seals to death can hardly be put in the same category as hunting but that's what they call it.  The biggest offender is the spread of the homo sapiens and the western attitude that animals are on this planet for us and we can do with them as we please.

Notice the amount of green in 1978 as compared to 2012. That's not good!

Human expansion is responsible for the loss of great tracts of farmland and forests. 3000 acres of farmland is lost to development every DAY (10) and 46-58,000 square miles of forest are lost each year. That is the equivalent of 36 football fields per minute. (11) 
We've already talked about the impact of this type of loss on human survival. What about plants and other animals?  As we encroach on their habitat they have one option - find another place to live or die.

A good example of this is the tiny Pikas that live at high altitudes in the Rocky Mountains. This little creature has adapted to life in extremely cold climates. They love extreme cold and can die if the temperature goes up to only 78 degrees. They are being pushed higher and higher into the mountains. When they get to the top they have no where to go. Their only option . . . die!

Animals that have become extinct because of humans and human development include the Black Rhino, Pyrenean ibex, passenger pigeon, Quagga, Caribbean monk seal, sea mink, Tasmanian tigers, Tecopa pupfish, Javan tiger, great auk, and the Bubal hartebeest. (12)

I am not going to try to make some sort of human "value assessment" to justify a species' right to live. I believe that these animals, by their very existence, have every bit the same right to survive as do homo sapiens. As far as I'm concerned it is mere religious arrogance that would attempt to justify otherwise. While I don't like hunting and obviously don't believe in killing other animals, I can grudgingly accept that the homo sapien is an omnivore - i.e. we can be carnivore or herbivore (vegetarian). That still does not justify our arrogant attitude toward other animals. Even though I do not feel it a necessity to point out the importance of each species we have destroyed or are threatening, I believe that it is important to this discussion to note that every animal serves a purpose within the ecosystem. I'm sure that most, if not all, of you have read articles about the honey bee. They are essential for 1/3 of all the food we eat. Albert Einstein has been credited for a dramatic statement that if bees go extinct humans will be extinct within four years. Einstein didn't make that statement, according to Quote Investigator, but Maurice Maeterlinck in a book he wrote in 1901 entitled "The Life of the Bee." Regardless of who penned the claim, are we really willing to watch the honey bee go extinct to find out if they're right?  Even if I had no concern about the validity of the statement, there are too many items on the list of foods we'd lose that I really like. To be very self-centered, I love to sit on our deck with a cup of coffee and look out over the flowers. If the honey bee goes extinct I can't do that. Both my coffee and the flowers are dependent upon bees.

An excellent example of the balance created when all indigenous species are present in an ecosystem is the story of the Grey Wolf that had been removed from Yellowstone National Park.  Significant environmental deterioration was being observed and there was no clear scientific answer to why. For example, aspen, willow and cottonwood trees were dying and waterways were deteriorating. Finally someone noticed that the last wolf had been killed in Yellowstone in 1926 and that coincided closely with the start of the problem. About 15 years after the re-introduction of the Grey Wolf into Yellowstone, Oregon State University did a study which clearly demonstrated the interdependence of all living things in an ecosystem.

"The gist of the study by Oregon State University shows that aspens, willows, and cottonwoods in the park’s northern range are thriving, in part because the increased wolf population has put a check on the number of elk in the park, down from a high of 15,000 animals in the early 1990s to 6,100 elk in 2010. And fewer elk and more diverse tree species have led to cleaner streams and rivers, with improved habitat for beaver and fish, which in turn provides more food sources for birds and bears. Even bison have benefited from the wolf reintroduction, because there’s less competition for food from elk, and bison aren’t a common target for wolves." (13)

Suffice it to say, even if you do not believe in the sanctity of all life, you must concede that there is more than ample evidence that we are totally interdependent. Many of those creatures on whom we depend are given little or no consideration - bees, ants, termites, bats, frogs and birds. I purposely included ants, termites and bats in this list because humans go to such great lengths to destroy these most beneficial creatures. It's okay if you don't want ants and termites in your house, but, believe me, you don't want to totally destroy them. The world would get pretty messy. Many other species are of significant benefit and all are a part of nature's balance. Most of us accept that there is a balance of nature.  If we continue to destroy plant and animal species then we are throwing nature out of balance.  Basic intelligence tells us that that can't be good.  And whether or not we like it or one's religion will admit to it, we are animals and a part of nature. That means that if nature is adversely effected then we will be adversely effected.

Climate Change.   Oh, this is such a hated topic. There have been examples of great climate changes long before homo sapiens could be blamed or do any harm.  The last time there was this much carbon dioxide camels lived in Canada. That was the Pliocene about 15 million years ago. Back then 400 ppm was part of a downward trend heading toward the ice age.(14) Our numbers are, unfortunately, going up. Like belly buttons, everyone has an opinion on this issue.  Scientific evidence shows that this has happened before. Even accepting that, the question remains - would it be this bad if homo sapiens weren't dumping 29 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year?  There is no way anyone can deny or ignore our contribution to the problem.  Would it hurt us so much to reduce our emissions? If we find that it doesn't make any difference we haven't lost anything. We'll just breath better.

Conclusion. These are just but a few of the issues facing us as creatures of this most marvelous planet Earth. Some argue that we are the only planet in the universe with life. Others argue that statistical odds show that there are other planets with life but there are none within a hundred light years or so. Either way that makes our home, Earth, pretty unique and very, very precious. We are the only animal on the planet that has both the ability to destroy this planet or save it.  We are the only animal with the cognitive ability to identify causes and problem solving skills to come up with solutions and actions to be taken. There is an old saying credited to Voltaire, "with great power comes great responsibility."  We are the ones with the power therefore we are the ones with the responsibility.


FOOTNOTES  ========
(1) https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100515174714AA6SD2h
(2) https://www.google.com/search?q=how+much+rainforest+is+left&rlz=1C1GGGE_enUS398&oq=how+much+rainforest+&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.5907j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8
(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercapnia#/media/File:Main_symptoms_of_carbon_dioxide_toxicity.svg

(4) http://www.thinkglobalgreen.org/deforestation.html

(5) http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2011/06/13/losing-our-coral-reefs/
(6) http://www.waterinfo.org/resources/water-facts
(7) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_pollution
(8) United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Washington, DC. "The National Water Quality Inventory: Report to Congress for the 2002 Reporting Cycle – A Profile."October 2007. Fact Sheet No. EPA 841-F-07-003.
(9) http://www.nps.gov/glac/learn/nature/waterquality.htm
(10) http://www.epa.gov/agriculture/ag101/landuse.html
(11) https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/deforestation
(12) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/22/11-extinct-animals_n_4078988.html
(13) http://www.adventure-journal.com/2012/01/return-of-wolves-to-yellowstone-benefits-aspens-cottonwoods-bison-fish-and-more/
(14) http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2013/05/130510-earth-co2-milestone-400-ppm/

Age gracefully . . . hell, no!

"Do not go gentle into that good night" ... "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" (1)

I just spent almost 90 minutes looking for a cartoon that I posted some time ago. It showed a couple standing in front of an outlandishly painted trailer wearing equally outlandish clothes with a caption something to the effect . . . "retirement.The time we're free to embarrass our children."  It would be much funnier if I had a copy, but . . . oh, well.   Nevertheless, be advised youngsters . . .  that is all of you fifty and younger . . . that we're not really trying to embarrass you. We just refuse to go gentle into that good night.

In the past I thought that saying that someone was "aging gracefully" was a compliment. Now I have decided that it is anything but a compliment.  I now realize that the only way to age gracefully is to give in to growing old and attempt to maintain some sort of decorum where decorum is translated 'be quiet, sweet, smile and do and look like what everyone thinks is appropriate for an old person.'  No way! Who wants to be graceful if it means giving up.  I am going to be anything but graceful. I still remember a cousin who said of my Mother (who was running and biking well into her 80s and had a boyfriend younger than me) "Aunt June, you need to act your age."  How sad to think that way!

"Rage, rage against the dying of the light."  The Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas, wrote the poem 'Do not go gentle into that good night' for his dying father and it is considered one of his best works.  Of course, he was bold enough to state what we all really feel but seem embarrassed or afraid to admit. Rage! Rage! None of us wants to die. Unlike other periods of our lives, the only conclusion of  the old age period is death.  Some of us use religion to try to comfort ourselves - trying to convince ourselves that we will either come back or go to 'heaven'.  Others try to act brave and accepting.  Even Buddhism, which teaches us that we should prepare for death, acknowledges that no one wants to die even if we're not having very much fun.  Scientists call it survival instinct.

According to Buddhist Lama Surya Das  there was a Japanese Zen master who, on his death bed, said "I don't want to die." When his students pressed him for some last words of wisdom he is reported to have said "I really don't want to die." (2)

Perhaps at first I didn't think about my burst of physical activity as being raging against the dying light. In fact, I would have to admit that I wasn't really aware of it as such until many months after my wife of 43 years died in 2011. I didn't start running until I was 62 and ran my first race the day before my 63rd birthday.  By the end of 2011 I was doing as many as 18 half and full marathons a year and started running trail ultras - trail runs of over 40 miles.  I bought a hat that said "Some day I won't be able to do this. Today isn't that day."  Traveling the country in a vintage pop-up trailer, I wrote "Don't stop living before you die" on the side in large letters. I wrote it in Irish so people would have to ask what it said.  While at a marathon in Key West, Florida I decided that I wanted to become a certified scuba diver. I finished my certification just before my 66th birthday and finished my master diver certification at the age of 68.  

I met Pamela Smith when I was 67.  She is 8 years my junior but was forced to give up doing triathlons because of arthritis.  I introduced her to scuba and she introduced me to biking and kayaking. I celebrated my 68th birthday in the wilderness of northwestern Montana with her where we worked as volunteers for the National Park Service at Glacier National Park and lived in a 16 foot vintage camper trailer. During our 80 days of service we hiked over 450 miles, biked 300 miles, kayaked almost 30 miles. In all, we traveled almost 12,000 miles together having one adventure after another.  It was then I realized that I was truly alive and determined that I wasn't going to grow old gracefully. I realized that I'm bound and determined to rage against the dying of the light and live and seek adventure until I can do it no longer.

I would speak to the children and the parents separately.

Children, don't inadvertently make your parents even older by being over protective.  We have no idea how many years we may have. Let them be happy and adventuresome. Encourage your parents and support them. If they want to do their first sky-dive at 80, go cheer them on. Why would you discourage them because they might get hurt when they could have a stroke or heart attack and end up in a nursing home or die tomorrow?  I spent almost 25 of my 39 years of psych practice with patients in long-term care. There we call it "quality of life".  Which represents the greater quality of life: (a) dying while participating in an adventure of which you dreamed, or (b) avoiding accidental death and sitting in a nursing home waiting to die?

Now, I'm not talking about being foolhardy or reckless. I want to live. So I'm going to be careful. I'm old and a bit more brittle, so I'm going to be extra careful. But there's a difference between taking all precautions and not doing it because you're old and you might get hurt.  I'm really proud of my children. When I started running wilderness trails and announced my first big wilderness run through the Ozark Mountains one of them wrote to the others "are we going to let him do this?"  Thankfully the answer was evidently 'yes' since they supported me, wished me well, and gave me a ResQLink for Christmas. That's a device that not only puts out the common distress signal but has a GPS link to satellites which are monitored 24/7 by 200 different countries.

Parents - old guys,  don't stop living because you're old.  Don't stop living because of physical limitations. I realize that many people are not as fortunate to be as physically active as me. But most people I meet do not know that I was diagnosed with arthritis at the age of 32.  Pamela and I both have severe arthritis. We merely adjust our activity to maximize our abilities. Running across the Badlands has given way to trekking the Rockies. So maybe you can't go trekking through the mountains but you might be able to walk or take a wheelchair through your local botanical garden.  Maybe you can't go white water rafting but you might be able to go to Disney and ride the rides ... even if you have to enter through the wheelchair entrance.  Just don't stop doing ... don't stop raging!

"Do not go gentle into that good night.  Rage, rage against the dying of the light."  Even if you are totally convinced that there is a life after earthly death, you owe it to yourself to make the most of this life. American Journalist, Hunter S. Thompson (born 1937) once said, "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!"  (3)

May your ride be long and exciting!


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(1)  Dylan Thomas (1914–1953) first published in 1951.
(2)  Das, Lama Surya (1997) Awakening the Buddha Within. Broadway Books. New York. 
(3)  Hunter S. Thompson. Born July 18, 1937, Hunter Thompson was one of the "most spectacularly outrageous journalists" of modern time. This is one of 509 quotes. No date was given.