Can Some Of Us Agree?
I had time to think.
Our adventure in the west continued today with the drive from Kingman Arizona to the town of 29 Palms 
on the edge of the Mojave Desert. The Mojave Desert is a desolate place. The two lane road was busy in both directions. There were commercial tractor trailers, and many vehicles like ours. As you’d guess, the occasional “jerk” usually in a tricked-out pickup truck ” flew” past us, attempting to pass everyone in the lane. I didn’t want to think about what an accident might mean on that stretch of road, so far from anywhere to summon assistance. Off in the distance I could see a “dust devil,” a tornadic-like rotation of wind currents filled with dust from the desert floor. We traveled across the Mojave and listened to old songs on the radio. Gary Puckett sang “Young Girl.” We sang along.
As if we are in a drought,
All is not well in our country. We find it difficult to make headway to improve our institutions, to make a more stable and just society. As in the Mojave Desert what should be the springtime of new growth, there is a lot of brown, only a hint of faint green. And there 
seems to be one dust devil after another on the horizon. Are these harbingers of events more substantial, and truly grim? I do not know what the future holds.
This afternoon while viewing and taking pictures within Joshua Tree National Park a friend and I felt the unspeakable grandeur of the geologic formations, — the signs of volcanic activity, and the slow inexorable erosion brought by time. There are simply no words of apt description.
We were lucky to come upon a Chuckwalla Lizard sunning itself on a rock surface. We surmised that the creature was not quick to dart away as the air temperature was a bit cool, – it seemingly posed for us while we captured it’s image. The Joshua Tree “forest” in one section of the park was magnificent. How long have these plants adapted, finding nourishment to grow perhaps ten feet or more tall, with arms extending in every directions?
We took a lot of pictures and we agreed upon the majesty of what we were viewing. On average around three million people visit this place every year.
What if,
we could reach out to every person who visits this place and loves nature, soliciting agreement upon three principles:
- The earth (Nature) is sacred, exercising a claim upon us to protect and nurture living plants, creatures, and preserve the non-living geologic, hydrologic, and atmospheric wonders that we have inherited.
- Music, every music genere’s as the apex of all of the arts — is the means by which we communicate with one another, the means of forming and cultivating community, something beyond words and language. Words as we sadly are discovering are easily misunderstood, and are routinely weaponized. What is one of your favorite songs? I will share with you one of mine.
- Really good coffee is the social drink par excellence, bringing us together in the bonds of friendship. Let’s sit down and have a cup together. Let’s talk about what we love.
Should not each of us aspire to be like the chuckwalla lizard, satisfied to draw warmth from the earth from which it draws it’s life… Can we not agree upon three life affirming principles: 1. Nature 2. Music 3. Good coffee?
We simply must have a simple core of commitment, bedrock principles by which we are living, and for which we would be willing to die.
Those who oppose are not going to change. They cannot help their point of view.
And we will close ranks, in solidarity with what we understand is good and true.
Are we the simple fools?
It all depends upon the angle of view. I know bat-shit crazy events occurred a few months ago, with minimal consequences. Angry, armed individuals say that the order which government brings is unnecessary, and they mean to do something about the “problem.”
We must form a flying-wedge of resistance, based upon shared inspiration from the things that we love.
That is what I think.
