Tuesday, May 26, 2009

"Yes" Yielding 5/26/09

If you have enthusiasm, you have a very dynamic, effective companion to travel with you on the road to Somewhere.

Loretta Young
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Enter. You don't need a passport.
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My town is a mowed lawn, clipped hedge, pruned tree kind of community. A suburb, in other words. There is only one place where things grow wild, a mini forest on the edge of town. It's owned by The Nature Conservancy. It used to be a fairly good sized tract of uncultivated land but most of it has been turned into a parking lot. What's left is a narrow strip of wilderness between the lot and the wetland which drains off of the Delaware River.

There's a primitive walking trail through the little forest. But it's mostly hidden from view and so it's where the teenagers like to go sometimes to drink their beer, smoke their dope and do whatever else they do (don't ask). So the trail sometimes has some unwholesome litter on it. The trees and bushes don't mind. And neither do I.

I always visit the place in the fall to enjoy the rich foliage or sit on a log and watch the ducks. Or I can walk along the trail and pretend I'm lost in a far northern woods and maybe will see a chipmunk, a wild hare or a deer, if I'm lucky. No such critters abide there, alas. It's also a great place to watch the spring trying to exert itself, unencumbered by human help.

I decided this morning to write something on this topic of enthusiasm. But as I thought about the problems facing me, financial and physical, I wondered what I could justify being enthusiastic about. Then I read "The Hidden Side Of A Leaf" in Indigo's journal http://deafscreams.blogspot.com where she directs our attention to look beyond the surface and find beauty where it's hidden. I used to draw and paint leaves and I remember investigating the undersides of them. The reverse side of a leaf is like a gentle echo of what's on the obverse side. It's the part that doesn't catch the sun.

My life is hard. I can't go painlessly walking down the street to catch the spring sun or go strolling easily through the petite forest. But when I do I can look up at the trees and admire my brothers, the hidden forest leaves.

The journey goes on, and it's either done with depression and sorrow or it's done with the effective and dynamic joy of one who is glad to share life's hidden beauties with his humble companions.

DB The Vagabond
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Put on your dancing shoes and greet the day.
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8 comments:

Ken Riches said...

Having a spot of nature to stroll through helps put things in perspective. Big fan of the Nature Conservancy, I have been a supporter for 25 years.

Beth said...

Hey, Ken said what I was going to say! :)

SILVER said...

ah DB! i love this post.

i love your spirit. I think life is like that. It's in trying to see the good in all the challenging circumstances and even when when we feel like we're choking up and can't go on. But we're resilient. We bounce back again and again.. and that's how we go on.

hugs-
~Silver

Char said...

Ah, beautiful! Thanks for a happy start to my day.

Sage Ravenwood said...

You're a courageous soul dear friend. I don't see life ever truly getting the better of you. I actually think you see quite a bit of the beauty in life. Thanks for the smile today. (Hugs)Indigo

Martha said...

Excellent post! I think so much in life is simply our reactions and our attitude.

Anonymous said...

D, sorry to hear that Silver Lake conservatory is still going down hill. It is a place that should have been saved not destroyed. Use to spend time there when I worked at the hospital. We also used it for fund rasing events, that were financially sucessful.
No going back I guess.

Silver said...
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