One would think that the editors and contributors to Calhoun Underground were far too caught up in politics. In our defense, I can say that having been raised in a highly political environment in which people were not afraid to speak out in the face of adversity, it comes very naturally. But there is a myriad of other sides to any story and there are many things that come “naturally”.
There must be balance in all things, in fact balance is inescapable in nature, and as humans in a natural world, without balance one would drive themselves completely insane. Balance is in the natural order of things. Everything in nature achieves it’s own balance of a sort eventually, no matter how hard it is pushed upon by humans OR natural forces for that matter. Natural Earth upheaval in all it’s intensity still eventually heals and becomes whole again. Even a lowly beer bottle, tossed by the road carelessly, will ultimately become a terrarium of plant and insect life or shelter for a field mouse to raise her brood. And in the horrendous devastation of mountaintop removal, eventually if left alone long enough, Mother Nature will do her utmost to work with whatever she has and cover the ugly scars left by greedy man.
We who live with nature, in rural areas, on farms, or in our yards and gardens are faced with one fact. We spend our lives fighting back mother nature as best we can with everything from hoes and rakes and lawnmowers, to chain-saws and brush hogs. And no matter how hard we work at our particular job or hobby, if we step back and say “I quit!” for just a couple years, the “mother” simply begins the process of taking back what is rightfully hers to begin with. And in this respect, the strength of nature, West Virginians are particularly wealthy.
In our minds, we find all the trash along the roads to be extremely ugly. At least those who have great reverence for natural beauty. But Mother Nature herself could care less if there are beer cans and MacDonalds cups and old tires tossed here and there. She’ll make use of them eventually.
Mother nature is not your average lady. We think that we humans are ALL THAT. We think we are so smart and so important and that if it were not for our giant Jethro brains, the world would simply go straight to hell. We’ve all got ourselves up on little invisible pedestals, we all think things should be just so, and if they’re not we will complain and cry bitterly until they are. But not so Mother Nature. She’s patient. She’ll just do what she does until finally something will get HER balance a little out of whack and then WATCH OUT! Us humans are nothing more than little ants upon the surface of the Earth and if Mother Nature gets angry, there is not one damn thing we can do about it. We think we are so powerful, but try sitting on the beach at high tide one night with the moon hanging full, or watch the devastation of an earthquake or hurricane or flood and realize WHO WE REALLY ARE in the greater scheme of things.
Our priorities are all messed up. And our balance is gone. We are so busy racing rats, chasing money and comfort for ourselves, we are forgetting how small we really are. We are not gods or kings or masters of any kind. We are just GUESTS here, tolerated nuisances like fleas, and every day that we are ALLOWED to live here and breathe the air and drink the water and eat what Mother Nature has supplied is a day we have been given a GIFT. And until we SEE and UNDERSTAND this, our lives will continue to be plagued by war and hatred and separation. And if we stand separated, we stand alone. But if we stand together as a family, we can’t be defeated.
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