June 30 2020
Although I’ve always had a tight relationship with my forest
in South Charlotte, North Carolina, it hasn’t always been giving peace and love
a chance. I was horribly lost during those
early years from 1992 to 97. Nature was
struggling with the opportunity to catch up.
Acid rain and other atmospheric materials were weakening the limbs and
roots. A once vibrant collection of
trees was thinning too quickly. That
caused erosion. The soil wasn’t
protected by the tall stick figures. I
would sit for hours in this forest daily writing. Literally listening for the wind share
something in the way of protecting its tree history. Like most, I did the Lowes and Home Depot
thing of trying to replenish the missing trees with what I call candy coated magazine
soil fixtures. They weren’t surviving.
November 1997. Seventeen hundred
naturally grown North Carolina tree seedlings began a journey that has invited
peace and love back into the poetry.
Learning to love all living things.
During those bleak moments of possibly facing cleared land, I was able
to take incredible notes of how everything was reacting. From the tall grasses to the tiny creek to
the turtles, snakes and other living things.
I wrote about everything. I
studied how the land was reaching outward and it was my goal and mission to read
every book that would help me save this little piece of daily sharing. Learning to love all living things taught me
to include even the tiniest pebbles used to slow erosion. To hold water for the base of the trees to
giving a lizard a place of warmth on a sunny day. Learning to love all living things. While writing in the forest on June 13, 2020
I was given a different thought. All of
these beautiful animals have come to this one place to help complete the
circle. The seasons so incredibly peace
filled. But something was still
missing. The message that’s been growing
for years. Replenishing a forest doesn’t
happen overnight. It involves a lot of
communication. The one thing missing
from this forest? People. Learning to love all living things. In a day and age of life’s everyday forest
constantly getting hit by the atmosphere and all it brings. People are no different than a tree. It’s time to study the soil. It’s time to get to know the flow of
energy. It’s time to take notes about preserving
what we already have by introducing peace and love through communication. Learning to love all living things. Not just what you like. All living things. Knowing about your community not just driving
through it. Planting new ideas that are
natural and not from a candy coated magazine page. Equally loving creates peace.
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