It's good to be home. We spent all day lounging around with a much-missed pup, processing the trip. It's impossible to fully verbalize the experience, but I committed to the attempt when we opened up our journey to you, so I'll do my best.
Follow the tracks of Spring
As Summer advances -
Past the lands of the Wetigos,
Until you find yourself
Going to the Sun.
Here, Brother Bear guards
Great Mother as she weeps.
Call out to him as her child,
And he will let you pass
Into her full embrace.
Hold fast to her bosom -
Cold, yet all around her is warm.
Drink
From her streaming tears and
Realize.
There is no sorrow.
She has mourned
In cold and darkness, but
No longer.
These tears are life -
Pure and untouched,
Rushing into the depths of the Earth to
Quench the thirst
Of her children.
Ushering in an era
Of growth -
And reclamation.
I wrote that out of pure response to my experience at Glacier, and it sets the tone for the realizations and affirmations of the trip. Our conversations and musings wandered, but the idea of HOW to successfully achieve the reclamation of our world dominated. In all our travels, we found more and more who are feeling the need to take back our community and create a future that represents what we really believe.
We debated possible solutions (and collections of solution parts) for unemployment, welfare, healthcare, the prison-industrial complex, elections, science, abortion, and a plethora of other topics. We spent 30 days talking almost exclusively about religion, politics, and controversial issues; had effectively zero personal space; and no one died. Not only did no one die, there were few arguments at all (and those were spurred by the space issue). Why?
1. Money never came into play. We had the benefit of all having planned and saved so that everyone's third of expenses were covered.
2. We all spoke up. Yes, there were times someone felt not heard. It wasn't for long. Neither of us allowed ourselves not to be fully heard, or each other.
3. Respect. This was the one we violated the most, and it always led to a quick rectification due to #2. 2 & 3 are good checks on each other, and with both any topic and any perspective is possible. With this, active listening is engaged, and you really begin to understand the perspective of the speaker, not just the words.
All of these skills are falling into short supply in our Great Oppression.
As I pondered what the hell went wrong and how to fix it, I found myself with a laundry list of symptoms - from healthcare to education to food to government and onward - and a reason clearly spelling itself out. It's us. Yes, America was founded on the interests of the elite, but by on the backs and bodies of her people. America is not a religious nation; she is not her government nor her economy. America is the spirit of her people and ourstory. They've taken that from us... Or rather, we've all too eagerly let it be taken. Wal-Mart hasn't changed practices because the people haven't demanded it. Why haven't enough people demanded it? Slavery's bad, right? Children in sweatshops still exist. Thousands of farmers get violently evicted by Big Ag and private corporate armies all over the world every year. The list could go on for days. The question is... why?
We rated convenience over each other, as a species. Nationalism made everything not American inferior, and we allowed our bubbles to shrink. The children in Asia in sweatshops become invisible to cheap, fast goods. We can afford more. We bought more crap and ran for the distraction. I can't blame us. Denial is a powerful thing. Now we're addicts to consumption, to things. We know our government is abusing us, and much like a battered spouse, we try to rationalize how it's the way it's supposed to go. We took the drug they fed us in order to jump start our post-war economy and ran with it. We're addicts to the distractions. We don't want to process the truth of our impact... But we're starting to, and this time we're starting with those who realized things were off in the past. There is nothing new here but what we can add to the non-cannibalistic, the non-Wetigo side.
As we listened to farm reports is the mid-west, we realized how close we are to food shortages. We committed to building community gardens and farm networks to make sure our communities are fed. We started talking about skill-shares and teaching communities how to provide for their own needs. At best, they'll never really need it, but at worst they will be less reliant on the system for survival if the economy continues to collapse. Watching your child starve will make monsters out of most, and avoiding that is a first priority in my eyes.
So many are staring to ponder the same queries, but there's something new going on. We aren't just questioning and debating. We're doing. Each action is momentum for a vibe coursing through the energy of our species, urged on by the collective knowledge and relizatioms of those who paved the way for us to live this experience, this point in history when we are on the brink of completing a puzzle that has been in the works for tens of thousands of years... but I'm sure those around when we figured out each piece before thought theirs to be the final as well. Each piece must be understood if our human dream can ever be encouraged.
I learned a lot about myself as well, and identified some rather unpleasant character traits. Between the interrupting and hijacking people's thoughts, it's a wonder anyone's ever felt they managed anything resembling an actual conversation with me. Okay, perhaps that's exaggerated, but only slightly. I speak so fondly of equity, but I suppose I've got a decent amount of work to do before I can really claim to always act accordingly. Luckily, I travelled with two very vocal, determined individuals who were as patient at the repeated need to point out to me that I'd attempted to silence them as any two people could be. I hear them when they talk now in a different way. My brain shuts up more and processes their thoughts. Amazing how that changes things.
We saw each other. We saw the country. We took the time to look past the surface and into the truth of things. We lived on gut checks, and we heard the stories of those along our way. We felt the vibe of this country, and the vibe is Reclaim! We don't need them to fix it. We can do that on our own... and we will.
Much love and safe travels,
Melissa
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